Meralco hosts Asean power utilities meet

To foster greater cooperation in implementing the different power grid programs in the region, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is hosting a four-day meeting of technical working groups on distribution under the Heads of ASEAN Power Utilities/Authorities or HAPUA.

HAPUA is an energy forum among the 10 ASEAN members – the Philippines, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Lao PDR and Myanmar. The primary objective of the meeting is to optimize the use of energy resources and help bring electricity to a greater number of people in the region.

Meralco vice president and network process head Fortunato Leynes said the meeting, which is the group’s fifth, started on April 25 and will end today.

The meeting is being conducted with the help of other power firms and organizations — the National Power Corp. (Napocor), the National Transmission Corp. (TransCo), the Department of Energy (DOE) and the National Electrification Administration (NEA).

One of the agenda of the meeting is to update the members on the status of the priority projects of the group.

The meeting will also identify deliverables and formulate action plans for each these cooperation projects: distribution system performance, demand side management and rural electrification.

Other objectives of the HAPUA working group are to complete related priority projects like non-technical losses, technical losses, operations and maintenance, materials management, asset management, co-generation connect to distribution and customer relationship management.

"Meralco is supportive of initiatives like these that facilitate the exchange of information on policies, strategies and best practices among the top players in the power industry," Leynes said.

He said in the final analysis, it is the electricity consumers who will benefit from such efforts since the power utilities serving them will be able to provide better quality of service.