Meralco capital expenses hit P5.3b in 1st six months

Manila Electric Co., the biggest electricity retailer in the country, spent around P5.3 billion for capital expenditures in the first half for new load and customer requirements and system reliability and safety.

Meralco’s capex spending during the period included the up-rating of the San Miguel 20 MVA PXF Bank 1 to 33 MVA, which provides additional capacity and improves the power quality in San Miguel, San Ildelfonso and Dona Remedios Trinidad in Bulacan and some barangays in Pampanga.

The company spent part of the budget to carry over projects due to be completed between the second half of 2017 and December 2018.

These include development of the Calamba 230-kV-115 kV delivery point substation, whose properties were recently secured, construction of the Parang-Marikina 115 kV line and the Paco delivery point’s additional 115 kV line, which requires the re-routing of the Paco-Tutuban segment, and buildingthe Paco-Kamagong and Paco-Legaspi lines and CBP-Rockwell segments.

Other capex includes the development of the Lucena substation and relocation projects for the Public Works and Highways Department.

Meralco president Oscar Reyes said the company was focused on delivering the best electric service to its over six million customers amid changing and more challenging market and customer demand.

“As a highly regulated business with pervasive impact on the quality of life of nearly a quarter of the country’s population and the operations of businesses and industries generating nearly half of the country’s gross domestic product through the reliability, quality and pricing of our electricity distribution business, we remain highly focused on delivering operational excellence in sales, energy sourcing, network, customer service and financial results,” Reyes said.

He said market disruptions had become the rule rather than the exception.

“We remain alert to these and are committed to responding to the changing times with agility. For example, we have contracted and participated in the renewable energy space, signing three long-term power supply agreements for solar energy at rates more than one-half lower than the first and second half feed-in tariffs,” Reyes said.

Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the company would continue to focus on “value creation and customer experience transformation, enabled by technology, innovation, and digital strategies including our investments in a smarter grid.”

“Our customer base is evolving with the growing population of millenials, which requires us to look beyond the hard assets and anticipate their emerging needs, changing consumption behavior and habits and product and service expectations,” Pangilinan said.