Meralco acquires power transmission assets, enhancing its services

MANILA, Philippines - Metro Manila’s lone electricity distributor secured approval to acquire an agency’s sub-transmission assets (STAs), a move that will enhance its service to customers. In a 25-page decision, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) permitted the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to purchase 16 facilities used to transmit electricity from power plants to households. Formerly owned and managed by the National Transmission Corp. (Transco), these assets are located in Bulacan, Pampanga, Batangas, Laguna, and Cavite. The acquisition will ensure that the assets will be run, managed, and maintained by the utility. With a total circuit length of 140.52 kilometers, the assets—two substations and 14 sub-transmission lines—were sold by Transco for P230.80 million. However, the ERC pegged the sale at P187.76 million, which is the assets’ total revenue potential, a term used to indicate the benefit foregone by Transco. Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001, Transco is tasked to sell its assets to encourage private investment in the power sector. Since 2004, an estimated P3 billion out of P8 billion worth of assets have been sold to utilities. - GMANews.TV