Meralco may get 6 offers for 1,800 MW CSP

MANILA, Philippines — A total of six power generation firms have expressed interest to supply Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) with the 1,800-megawatt (MW) of power supply needed to meet the growing demand of its customers starting next year.

Meralco first vice president and head of regulatory management Jose Ronald Valles said a total of six companies have submitted their expression of interest following the deadline yesterday for interested power generation firms for the competitive selection process (CSP) for its 1,800-MW requirement.

Valles previously said the company expects to receive at least three offers for the CSP.

“So the last time we bidded this out, there were more than three I think who participated in the bidding, so we expect them to express their interest to participate in the same bidding,” he said.

Valles said interested generation companies could bid only a portion, and not the entire 1,800 MW, of the supply requirement.

The power distributor has set the pre-bid conference on Nov. 20, while bid submission deadline is slated on Dec. 26, 2023.

The CSP is meant to replace the capacity covered by Meralco’s 2021 power supply agreements with San Miguel units Excellent Energy Resources Inc. and Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd., which were terminated earlier this year.

The Department of Energy had earlier issued a certificate of conformity on the terms of reference for a 15-year contract involving Meralco’s 1,800-MW baseload requirement starting December 2024.

Meralco is the largest electric power distribution company in the country, providing electric service within its franchise area coverage which includes Metro Manila, all of the provinces of Rizal, Cavite and Bulacan, and parts of the provinces of Pampanga, Batangas, Laguna and Quezon.

As of end-September, it has a consolidated customer count of 7.8 million.

Meralco expects sales volumes this year to rise between 4.5 and 4.7 percent from last year.

“For October alone, we’re seeing around 5.2 percent increase, then November, December around that much. So on average, five percent per quarter. That would be around 4.7 percent,” Meralco senior vice president and chief revenue officer Ferdinand Geluz said.

From January to September, distribution utility sales volumes rose by four percent to 38,164 gigawatt hours, with Meralco’s volume rising by four percent year-on-year and that of Clark Electric Distribution Corp. improving by seven percent.

The commercial segment accounted for 37 percent of total energy sales mix during the nine-month period, while residential sales accounted for 35 percent, and the industrial segment at 28 percent.