Aboitiz Power starts supplying power to Albay co-op

MANILA, Philippines - Aboitiz Power Corp. (APC) has started providing power to Albay Electric Cooperative (Aleco), which distributes electricity to the entire province of Albay.

APC, through its subsidiary AP Renewables Inc. (APRI), will increase the power it supplies to Aleco from 40 percent of the latter’s requirements to 65 percent, or from 23 megawatts (MW) to over 37 MW.

The increase in energy supply will benefit more than 150, 000 member-consumers of the power cooperative.

Currently under the supervision of the National Electrification Administration (NEA), Aleco tapped APC to guarantee the power supply in the province, as well as to temper the price of electricity it sources from the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM).

APC officials said that providing Aleco with an additional supply of energy effectively reduces the monthly power bills of consumers because it would lower the volume of electricity the latter sources from the spot market where prices are volatile.

 “The additional energy supply would result to lower rates passed on to the end consumers. Plus, it would make power cost on succeeding months more predictable, too,” Roland Gaerlan, APC vice president for marketing, said.

The WESM is a platform for power generators to offer excess generating capacity and for distribution companies to source uncontracted power requirements.

Aleco earlier faced disconnection of power supply from the main grid due to its failure to meet its financial obligations with Philippine Electricity Market Corp., the spot market’s operator, and the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, the private company running the country’s power transmission highways.

To help the utility improve operations as well as negotiate with power suppliers, NEA, which administers electric cooperatives with financial, technical and institutional concerns, took over Aleco in February this year.