Global Power eyes 100MW in retail electricity market

By Myrna M. Velasco – November 30, 2016, 10:01 PM

from Manila Bulletin

Through its licensed retail electricity supplier (RES) unit, Global Business Power Corporation (GBPC) is targeting to grow its capacity in the contestable market by 100 megawatts (MW) until next year.

This was indicated to media by GBPC Executive Vice President Jaime T. Azurin, stressing that the portfolio will more than double from what they currently have at 30 to 40 megawatts this year.

The company’s RES arm is Global Energy Supply Corporation (GESC) as already approved and licensed by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

“Right now, we’re already signing about 30 to 40MW. At RES, we’re growing that business… target for contestable customers will be as high as 80 to 100 megawatts until next year,” Azurin said.

He stressed “in the Cebu island, we’ve won about 30MW of contracts despite the tough competition there, that’s why were very active.”

The prospective customers under RES are those end-users that can already contract directly with their preferred suppliers. The policy underpinning for this is the full implementation of the retail competition and open access (RCOA) phase of the restructured electricity sector.

The mandatory setup is seen kicking off February next year at the initial threshold of 1.0MW; and is set to be reduced to 750 kilowatts by June 2017.

Azurin sounded off that “price war” and service quality will become the focal points of competition once full contestability is opened up in the power industry.

“People have been asking about the effectiveness of EPIRA (Electric Power Industry Reform Act), that is coming. The competition for us power generators is becoming tougher and tougher, especially with the opening of contestable customers,” he opined.

The mandatory competitive regime in the power industry had been legally snagged for some time, but a recent ruling of the Supreme Court had reversed that destiny – thus, the relevant government agencies are now firming up timelines on RCOA’s definitive implementation.