Japanese joint venture firm TeaM Energy Corporation has inked a bilateral power supply agreement with Philex Mining Corporation for it to supply 36 megawatts of the latter’s electricity needs.

According to TeaM Energy president Federico E. Puno, the deal will help provide the mining firm with a “reliable and cost-efficient energy to power their operations.”

“TeaM Energy now supplies the full energy requirement of Philex Mining Corporation in Tuba, Benguet after it signed an energy supply deal with the country’s largest mining firm that will run through the end of the year,” the company noted in a statement.

The mining firm’s operation in Benguet has been logging peak demand of 36 megawatts. Prior to the signing of the latest agreement, TeaM Energy supplies Philex Mining’s power requirement in a co-arrangementwith state-run National Power Corporation, but that already lapsed in December last year.

“We look forward to a fruitful and lasting relationship with our new business partner Philex,” Puno stressed, noting that the committed capacity in the bilateral deal will be coming from the company’s 200-megawatt excess capacity in the Sual power plant in Pangasinan.

He specified that “apart from generating power for the Luzon grid, our plants are also capable of providing for the power needs of large industrial end-users at competitive rates.”

Puno qualified that “large industrial users stand to benefit from bilateral energy supply agreements with TeaM Energy as it allows them the opportunity to reduce business costs,” such being a key component in the overall cost of businesses.

As far as its deal with Philex Mining is concerned, TeaM Energy has given word that it “”will be able to significantly lower electric utility costs.”

Philex Mining, which currently counts businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan as its biggest shareholder, exports its gold and copper outputs to Japan.

Mining is among the power-intensive industries, which for the longest time, has been batting for relief in rates to lower their overall operating expenses.