Meralco secures baseload supply for summer

By Ed Paolo Salting – February 26, 2025
from The Manila Times

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has secured a 200-megawatt baseload requirement via an emergency power supply agreement ahead of an expected spike in electricity demand starting April.

Meralco said that after ACEN Corp. had stopped providing power to the company last November, it requested offers and then received proposals from Mariveles Power Generation Corp., Sual Power, Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp., First Natural Gas, Therma South Luzon and South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp.

Sual Power made the lowest offer and a supply deal running from Jan. 26, 2025 to Jan. 25, 2026 was reached.

“Considering the resulting deficit of baseload capacity and approaching peak demand during summer months, we notified the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) of its need to enter into an EPSA, or the emergency power supply agreement,” Meralco Senior Vice President Jose Ronald Valles said on Monday.

“Due to the urgency of this matter, the parties involved, namely us and Sual Power, already implemented the EPSA, which began on Jan. 26, 2025, and the application for the EPSA is currently undergoing prefiling with the ERC,” he added.