Impact of San Miguel supply deal suspension to be felt in January billing month —Meralco

The impact of the cessation of supply deal between the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) and San Miguel’s South Premier Power Corp. (SPPC) will be felt by customers in the January billing month, an official of the power distribution firm said Saturday.

Early this week, San Miguel Corp. announced it is ceasing its 670-megawatt (MW) power supply agreement (PSA) with Meralco after the Court of Appeals issued a temporary restraining order suspending the PSA for 60 days. 

“Itong epekto ng pagtigil ng pagsu-supply ng San Miguel sa Meralco ay sa January bill pa makikita,” Meralco public relations head Claire Feliciano said in an interview on Dobol B TV.

“Kailangan natin hintayin ang paggalaw hanggang matapos ang supply month. Makikita ang epekto nito sa January bill,” she said.

Meralco earlier said it is negotiating with power generation companies to fill the 670-MW supply it lost after SPPC ended their power supply deal to shield customers from potential price increase.

For the meantime, the power distributor said it is sourcing the supply covered by the PSA from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

Feliciano said the SPPC supply contract accounted for about 12% of Meralco’s total power supply.

“Ang kontrata natin sa SCPC ay around P4.30 kilowatt-hour... Ang WESM, pabago-bago, nasa P7 to P9 ang presyo nito kada kilowatt-hour,” she said.

Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta earlier said that Meralco customers consuming 200 kilowatt-hours may expect “P60 to P80 additional” amount in their bills following the suspension of the Meralco-SPPC supply deal. 

Feliciano reiterated that Meralco is negotiating with power generation companies to fill the 670-MW supply it lost after SPPC ended their power supply deal to shield customers from potential price increase.

“Sa ngayon, naghahanap ang Meralco ng ibang options na maaaring pagkunan ng supply maliban sa WESM... We're considering offers of other generators for the possible supply. Ang tawag namin dito ay emergency power supply agreement,” she said.

“We are currently negotiating the prices tapos kapag nagkasundo na, mag-e-execute na ng kontrata para masiguro na makakuha tayo ng least cost option para sa ating customer despite the current circumstances,” she added.

The Meralco official assured power consumers that there will be no brownout following the cessation of the supply agreement with San Miguel’s SPPC.

The CA decision stemmed from SPPC’s petition asking for temporary relief after the ERC rejected its pleas together with San Miguel Energy Corp., and Meralco to hike generation charge amid higher prices for coal and natural gas materials used to produce electricity.

The ERC, however, said that the agreed price in the PSA is fixed by nature and the grounds for increase cited by SPPC and Meralco were not among the exceptions that would allow for price adjustment. —KG, GMA Integrated News