By Alena Mae S. Flores – July 20, 2018 at 07:50 pm
from manilastandard.net

Aboitiz Power Corp. sold a total of 800 megawatts of power to customers under the retail competition and open access regime.

“We’re now 800 MW. Close to 800 MW,” Aboitiz Power chief operating officer Emmanuel Rubio said Friday. RCOA allows large power users to choose their own suppliers.

“We’re renewing a lot of contracts because of open access, the terms are short, one- to two-year contracts,” Aboitiz Power first vice president Sandro Aboitiz said.

He said the bulk of the company’s customers are 1-MW users while the rest are 750 kW customers.

Aboitiz Power signed up Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa on Mactan Island in Cebu in May as one of its customers.

Aboitiz said more and more businesses were looking for sustainable energy solutions.

“More than just supplying power, we are looking at providing better solutions to our customers. Our wide portfolio of energy sources, both renewable and non-renewable, gives us the flexibility to meet the demand of our customers, while assuring our customers of the reliability that only Aboitiz Power can give,” Aboitiz said.

Erramon Aboitiz, president and chief executive officer of Aboitiz Equity Ventures Inc., Aboitiz Power’s parent firm, said the company had built additional merchant power plants on the premise that open access would be fully implemented.

“We, together with others in the power industry, are therefore awaiting the full implementation of open access reducing the thresholds for contestability from 1 MW to 750 KW and the further reduction to 500 KW and below,” he said.
Aboitiz said open access was the “Holy Grail” for true competition, “giving power producers and RES access to the end user, hence the importance that it be implemented swiftly and as planned.

”The full implementation of open access was halted following a petition filed with the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining order on February 21, 2017, stopping the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission from implementing the RCOA rules and regulations that mandated the mandatory migration of contestable customers.

The department and ERC earlier ordered large power users to choose their suppliers by February 26, 2017.

 

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