Meralco: 79 private companies, one govt office joins ILP

Seventy-nine companies and one government office have joined the Interruptible Load Program, the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) said on Tuesday.

"As of March 16, we now have 755.5 megawatts of deloading capacity enrolled in the program, coming from almost 400 accounts/locations," Meralco head of utility economics Lawrence Fernandez told GMA News Online.

Of the 755.5 MW, 395.06 MW is committed by captive customers—393.36 MW from 79 private companies and 1.70 MW from the House of Representatives.

Fernandez said 352.94 MW is from contestable customers/Retail Electricity Suppliers and 7.5 MW from the locators of Philippine Economic Zone Authority's Cavite Economic Zone.

"We are still working with the Retail Electricity Suppliers to convert the remaining 154 MW of deloading capacity with Expressions of Commitment into signed Memorandum of Agreements, so that they can formally join the program. This would bring the total deloading capacity to more than 900 MW," he said.

The ILP aims to solve the country's power crisis by allowing large establishments and private companies to use their own generators during peak load hours.

Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla said more participants in the ILP would make the program less demanding.

"It's good that the number is increasing. The more participants, the less strenuous for them as they don't have to run their gensets long if ever they are called into action," Energy Secretary Carlos Jericho Petilla told GMA News Online.

Based on the Energy department's estimates, a power shortfall between 300 to 1,200 MW may affect the Luzon grid by March 2015.

With the current total capacity committed and the expected shortfall, there is still an unmet shortfall of about 444.5 MW. — BM, GMA News