SMC, Aboitiz Power units submit lowest rates for Meralco supply

By Alena Mae S. Flores – January 7, 2024, 8:10 pm
from manilastandard.net

San Miguel Corp. and Aboitiz Power Corp., through their respective subsidiaries, submitted the lowest offers for Manila Electric Co.’s 1,800- megawatt baseload requirement.

This followed the bid submission deadline and bid opening on Friday for Meralco’s 1,800-MW competitive selection process.

Meralco said in a statement over the weekend the BAC-PSA announced that GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD) owned by AboitizPower and Mariveles Power Generation Corp. (MPGC) and Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI) of SMC submitted the lowest offers.

GNPD offered a total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) rate of P6.8580 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for 300 MW of the total requirement, while MPGC offered P6.9971 per kWh LCOE for another 300 MW.

EERI, meanwhile, put in the bid for the biggest 1,200-MW supply at P7.1094 per kWh LCOE.

Masinloc Power Co. Ltd. (MPCL), the other generation company that participated in the bidding, offered to supply 300 MW at a rate of P7.1417 per kWh.

Meralco’s bids and awards committee for power supply agreements said with EERI’s bid completing the required 1,800 MW total supply requirement, MPCL’s bid was designated as a possible next best bid.

“The Meralco BAC-PSA has fully complied with its mandate to conduct the bid in an open and transparent manner to achieve the least cost of electricity in accordance with the Department of Energy’s Department Circular No. DC2023- 06-0021, Series of 2023 and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) Resolution No. 16, Series of 2023,” Meralco BAC-PSA chairman Lawrence Fernandez said.

All offers received were below the reserve prices set for the CSP, according to the BAC-PSA.

Meralco said all submissions underwent a very stringent pass/fail completeness assessment and pre-qualification evaluation.

The BAC-PSA is also set to conduct a post-qualification evaluation and submit its recommendation and report to the Meralco board for approval of the best bids as the winning power suppliers prior to the issuance of notices of award.

“As a regulated entity, Meralco has conducted its business in full compliance with all rules and regulations issued by the ERC and DOE. The terms of reference’s conformity to Meralco’s power supply procurement plan were likewise reviewed and approved by the DOE and, in the process of the bidding, was updated to consider the recommendations of ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta,” Fernandez said.

“To further ensure transparency, proceedings were streamed live, and all contracts resulting from this bidding process shall be subjected to regulatory proceedings and evaluation by the ERC,” he said.

The resulting PSAs from the 1,800 MW CSP cover Meralco’s baseload requirement for a 15-year period beginning December 2024.

The CSP was meant to replace the capacity covered by Meralco’s 2021 PSAs that were terminated in 2023.