With the advent of competitive setup in the electric power industry, utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is similarly gearing up for its enlistment as retail electricity supplier (RES) or the entity that shall directly sell power to large end-users.

Meralco chairman Manuel M. Lopez noted that one of their main preparations would be the company’s plunge as RES in the restructured electricity market.

“As you know, we are already going into RES. But all new projects will have to go through the Committee that Mr. (Oscar) Reyes will chair,” Lopez said. Reyes has been named Meralco’s chief energy adviser.

With open access finally taking its reign in the market as targeted within the year, Meralco can initially prop itself up as default RES at its franchise area, but if it wants to join the competitive bandwagon further, it will need to seek registration with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) as RES.

By positioning itself as RES, Meralco would be able to compete with other power providers in supplying the needs of large-ticket end users or the so-called “contestable market” under open access regime.

It must be noted that consumers with peak demand averaging 1.0 megawatt (over the 12-month preceding period) can already choose or directly contract for their requirements with power suppliers.

However, if Meralco would want to keep them as customers, it may need to compete with the power generators and other suppliers in meeting their electricity needs. But first, it will need to register as RES.

Moving forward on that strategy, incoming Meralco president and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan noted that they will need supply to satiate customer demand, hence, the planned investmensts in power generation.

“There’s no exclusive arrangement with any groups, so we’re open. Meralco will look at anything that will make sense,” Pangilinan said, on prospective synergies or partnerships with project developers.

A supply contract with Meralco may also be considered if project proposals are assessed to be viable. “I think if it will make sense for Meralco, then we will have to look at it,” Pangilinan added.

The country’s biggest distribution utility is propping up investment plans into power generation given recent experiences of supply shortages that have adversely affected its service areas in the past months.

Apart from ensuring supply for captive customers (or those that shall remain under its charge upon the implementation of open access), the utility firm is also scouring for supply options that it can tap into for its planned foray as licensed retail electricity supplier.

As far as investments are concerned, newly elected President and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan noted that the forward direction for the company would be to explore opportunities, including in power generation and prospective synergies with co-shareholders, like San Miguel Corporation.

Stressing that their partnership scouring strategy is generally “non-exclusive,” he noted that they are open to investment offers that will prove viable and attractive if assess from their venture parameters.

Lopez added that higher income forecasts for the year will not only be driven by higher demand due to hot weather, but also with wider sales to industries as the economy starts picking up.

Basically, he said, Meralco’s balance sheet is trailing a healthy path and buoyed further with the company’s upcoming filing this month of performance-based regulation (PBR) tariff under its third regulatory reset.