By MYRNA M. VELASCO
Giant utility firm Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has secured bulk of its power supply from state-owned National Power Corporation during the first six months of this year.
As could be gleaned from record of its purchased power, the utility firm has sourced about 54.88 percent of its total power supply from NPC for the months of January to June for a total delivery of 7,440 gigawatt hours. A gigawatt-hour is equivalent to one million kilowatt hours.
Data has shown that the highest supply purchase from NPC was in June at 1,347.10 GWhs; or for a share of 55.63-percent as against the volume secured from IPPs.
The remaining supply is being secured from its contracted independent power producers, like First Gas Power, Quezon Power Philippines Ltd. Co. and Duracom Power.
Of the IPPs, the Sta. Rita power project contributed about 22.38-percent of Meralco’s power supply during the period; 11.54-percent from San Lorenzo facility; 8.48-percent from Quezon Power (Phils) Ltd. Co. and 2.72 percent from Duracom Power.
It was, however, culled that if NPC’s application for generation charge increase of average P1.87 per kwh; its rates would become higher than that of the Meralco IPPs.
NPC’s generation rate for Luzon is currently at P2.6710 per kwh; but if the R2.00 per kwh rate increase it applied for would be approved by ERC; its total generation charge for Luzon would be at P4.6710 per kwh.
If ever, Meralco noted that NPC’s rate will shoot up as against the generation charge of its IPPs at average P4.3088 per kwh; which is lower by P0.37 per kwh than that of the stateowned power firm’s rates.
The utility firm emphasized that such generation charge was even set at constricted dispatch of its natural gas-fired and even the coal-fired power plants.
Meralco further noted that its IPP rates would even go lower by P0.37 per kwh or about P3.9429 per kwh if the plants would be dispatched at minimum energy quantity (MEQ) or the maximum contracted outputs of about 83 to 86 percent of their installed capacities.
The MEQ dispatch of the IPPs has been a significant part of the amendments set forth in the power supply agreement between NPC and Meralco; which is now pending for approval by the Energy Regulatory Commission.
The limited dispatch of the natural gas facilities was partly due to the congestion in the transmission line of NPC; but is now being addressed by spinoff National Transmission Corporation.
The company is currently pursuing its long-delayed Batangas Transmission Reinforcement Project and the uprating of the Binań-Dasmarińas line to solve congestion in key transmission lines where the output of the gas plants would be transmitted.
