Meralco asks SPPC to pay for higher power costs due to canceled deal

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has asked San Miguel Corporation's South Premier Power Corporation (SPPC) to shoulder the higher power cost that looms due to their cancelled agreement, according to Maki Pulido’s “24 Oras” report on Tuesday.

The power distributor said that since SPPC stopped supplying electricity on December 7, it has been buying the more expensive supply from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market to fill the 12 percent gap.

Meralco said it pays SPPC P4.27 per kilowatt hour based on their contract. After the deal was cancelled, it has been buying from WESM for P7 to P9 per kilowatt hour. The difference in price will appear in the generation charge that will be collected from Meralco customers.

“If we will look at historical data yung presyo sa merkado sa spot market malaki ang possibility na magresulta sa mas mataas na generation charge o mas mahal na presyo which of course will be a pass through cost,” Meralco spokesperson Joe Zaldarriaga said.

Meralco has issued a demand letter to the SPPC to pay the price difference.

It said that the SPPC has not yet replied to their demand letter.

“We asked them to pay yung price difference o yung pagkakaiba between the contract price that we have with them and the WESM price kung saan maeexpose ang Meralco dito sa prices,” Zaldarriaga said.

GMA News sought comment from the SPPC, but it has yet to respond.

The SPPC stopped the supply of electricity while waiting for the decision of the Court of Appeals (CA).

The SPPC went to the CA after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) rejected its appeal to revise the price of the electricity which it supplies to Meralco.

It said that they will be losing money due to the sudden increase in the price of coal in the global market.

The ERC also prohibited the SPPC from terminating its contract with Meralco.

The Power for People Coalition said if the electricity of ordinary people will be cut if they are unable to pay, the corporation must also be penalized if it suddenly fails to comply with the power supply agreement.

“Dahil tingin niya, hindi siya kumikita bigla na lang siyang lalabas. Paano mo mapagkakatiwalaan pa ‘yung ganoong klaseng company? Dapat at least, kahit isang taon o dalawang taon o limang taon na pag-bar dito sa ganitong klaseng mga companies,” Gerry Arances, the group's convenor, said.

“Imbis na sa pagkain na pang-araw-araw napupunta, syempre ilalaan mo talaga sa kuryente kasi hindi naman pwede na hindi ka magbayad, puputulan ka nila automatic yan,” Meralco customer Maricris Galigao said.

GMA News is still trying to get the side of the ERC on the issue.—Richa Noriega/LDF, GMA Integrated News