Meralco asks more customers to join net metering program
By Alena Mae S. Flores – September 12, 2023, 9:25 pm
from manilastandard.net
Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) on Tuesday encouraged more customers to participate in the net metering (NP) program which allows them to install a renewable energy facility within their premises and generate electricity for their own use.
These customers, with a capacity of up to 100 kilowatts, can get credits from the excess electricity that they export back to Meralco.
“To date, we have 8,544 NM customers with 50.3 MW peak installed capacity, and year on year NM numbers and capacity are increasing rapidly,” Meralco senior vice president Ferdinand Geluz said during the second day of the Giga Summit
Geluz said that in 2022, these customers exported 20.3 gigawatt-hours (GWh). He said that as of July this year, 16.2 GWh was already generated for export and was “projected to exceed last year’s aggregate number.”
Geluz said Meralco would also continue to ramp up its electric vehicle (EV) deployment and by 2030, aimed to reach at least 25 percent fleet electrification complete with the required ecosystem to run the EVs.
He said Meralco chairman and chief executive Manuel Pangilinan expressed the power retailer’s intent to be at the forefront of electric mobility development in the Philippines.
“With our network and capabilities, we believe that Meralco is in a position to help stimulate demand and develop the infrastructure support especially in the rollout of EV charging stations,” Geluz said.
He said Meralco was ahead of its compliance with the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA) and leads in fleet electrification with 156 electric vehicles such as e-cars, e-vans, e-pickups and e-motorcycle deployed by end-2022.
“This represents 7 percent of our total vehicles [vs. 5 percent EVIDA target] which serve the daily operational needs of our sector offices and business centers. To support the charging requirements of these EVs, we have also installed 39 EV chargers,” Geluz said.
Geluz said Meralco also encourages businesses who are able to shift operations to off peak hours to promote energy efficiency and conservation.
“This resulted in significant operational savings on electricity that have allowed some companies to thrive and afforded others to expand,” he said.
He said Meralco, through subsidiary MSpectrum , Inc. provides solar PV installation services to help customers achieve Net Zero Energy status.
“MSpectrum’s installations are guaranteed safe and high-quality while providing seamless integration into the Meralco grid,” he said.
Geluz said the Philippines still has a long way to go to achieving Net Zero by 2050.
“But the journey starts with one step. A reaction starts with one action. I hope that all these micro efforts, taken collectively, will have giga effect,” he said.
