Meralco: 8 gencos keen on power deal
By Lenie Lectura – June 27, 2024
from Business Mirror
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has received offers from eight power generation companies (gencos) to supply the requirements of the utility firm for 15 years.
“Eight gencos submitted expressions of interest by the deadline,” said Meralco Bids and Awards Committee for Power Supply Agreements (BAC-PSA) Chairman Lawrence Fernandez. Meralco is seeking bids for its 600 megawatt (MW) baseload capacity requirement starting August 26, 2025.
Fernandez, who is also the head of Utility Economics at Meralco, said the total offered capacity from eight bidders stood at 1,870MW vis-a-vis the 600MW requirement to be bid out. This means that many gencos want to supply Meralco’s baseload requirement, preferably sourced from indigenous natural gas.
Pursuant to the Department of Energy’s (DOE) advisory dated October 11, 2023, the terms of reference (TOR) indicated that “power suppliers with natural gas fired power plants are highly encouraged to participate in the Bidding and prioritize the use of indigenous natural gas,” according to Meralco.
Meralco BAC-PSA has scheduled a pre-bid conference on July 4, while the bid submission deadline is on August 2.
A Certificate of Conformity to Meralco’s latest Power Supply Procurement Plan for the terms of reference of this competitive selection process (CSP) was secured from the DOE.
The conduct of CSP is part of Meralco’s continuing efforts to ensure the availability of reliable, sufficient, and cost-competitive power for customers, according to the utility firm.
Based on the bid invite, interested bidders and any of its affiliates engaged in power generation must not have an outstanding dispute or unsettled dispute or any due and demandable financial obligation, in each case with Meralco or its affiliates engaged in power generation, distribution, and supply.
The bidder and any of its affiliates engaged in power generation must also not have any due and demandable energy settlement amounts with the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. or with the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines.
Meralco said this provision has been a standard part of its CSPs for years already.
However, Meralco said certain power firms with pending judicial cases are excluded from this provision. These include South Premier Power Corp., Therma Mobile Inc., San Miguel Energy Corp., among others.
Meralco is the largest electric power distribution company. Its subsidiaries are engaged in engineering and consulting, construction, bills payments and other electricity-related services. A subsidiary is in the process of developing the company’s generation portfolio.
