MORE Power starts rollout of P1.8 billion system upgrade

MANILA, Philippines — More Electric and Power Corp. (MORE Power) has started the rollout of its P1.8-billion modernization program for Iloilo City’s aged distribution system.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William Fuentebella said the DOE is hopeful that Ilonggos will finally get a better service from MORE Power after it replaced Panay Electric Co. (PECO), which had operated the city’s electricity distribution system for 96 years.

Mario Marasigan, director of the DOE’s Electric Power Industry Management Bureau, said the DOE will conduct validation work on the modernization program as soon as the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) is lifted.

MORE Power president and COO Roel Castro assured Iloilo City Mayor Geronimo Treñas and the city’s residents that the company will work on providing a reliable, safe and cheap supply of electricity.

He said the company will start with the replacement of all electric meters in the city with new meters that have been approved and had passed the standards of the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) as a means of reducing the technical system losses paid for by Ilonggos in their monthly bill.

As of 2019, PECO had recorded system losses, or the amount of electricity lost in the inefficient distribution because of faulty lines and equipment or from pilferage, of 9.03 percent or way above the 6.5 percent cap that could be charged to customers set by the ERC for privately-owned distribution utilities, ERC records showed.

Among the equipment that need to be replaced or rehabilitated are 119 transformers all over the city that were found to be abnormally overheating, an indication of overloading, he said.