Meralco to republish power supply notice

Manila Electric Co., the biggest retailer of electricity, plans to republish a second invitation to bid for its 20-year, 1,200-megawatt baseload power supply requirement.

Meralco is doing the republication after the Energy Department called the attention of the utility shortly after it published the invitation to bid last month.

Sources said the department did not approve the publication and did not post it on its website.

“The invitation to bid and terms of reference for the second round will be updated. Hence, they will need to be republished,” Meralco head of utility economics Lawrence Fernandez said.

He said the deadlines and milestone dates would be adjusted accordingly to consider the date of re-publication.

Meralco officials earlier expressed confidence the second round of bidding would be successful.

“Meralco is confident that the next round of bidding will be successful once again, as this will contribute to adding much-needed capacity to the Luzon Grid…,” said Meralco first vice president and head of regulatory management Jose Ronald Valles said.