Manila Electric Co., the biggest retailer of electricity, is considering a negotiated bidding of its 180-megawatt baseload supply requirement following the failure of the second round of the Competitive Selection Process.
The Third-Party Bids and Awards Committee (TPBAC) declared the second round of CSP a failure as it did not receive any expression of interest from a prospective bidder by the April 29 deadline.
Under the revised CSP rules, an auction is declared a failure if the TPBAC received less than two offers.
The TPBAC further said since there was no outstanding dispute on the first and second rounds of CSP of the contract, the distribution utility might enter into direct negotiation of the 180-MW contract capacity requirement, also as provided by the revised CSP rules.
“We are now considering all our options, including negotiating with a potential supplier, to cover the 180-MW supply requirement from May to July 2022,” said Jose Ronald Valles, Meralco’s head of regulatory management office.
“This CSP was meant to mitigate the exposure of our customers to additional generation costs associated with running Malampaya gas-reliant plants on expensive liquid fuel,” he said.
The 180-MW supply forms part of the 350-MW power requirement that Meralco needs to augment its available supply during the dry months.
It is meant to cover the output of plants affected by the inability of the Malampaya field to supply adequate natural gas fuel.
Meralco in February signed a power supply agreement with South Premiere Power Corp. following a CSP for the initial 170-MW of peaking power requirement. It submitted the PSA to the ERC for approval.