30 firms commit to use own generators in summer ‘15

MANILA, Philippines - Thirty private companies have so far committed to run their own power generators in the summer of 2015, with a total capacity of 171 megawatts, latest data from Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) showed.

“A growing number of commercial and industrial companies are heeding the Department of Energy’s (DOE) call to participate in the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) – a demand side management solution regarded as one of the countermeasures meant to help mitigate the project power supply strain in the summer months of 2015,” Meralco said in an advisory.

The ILP is the primary measure Congress is considering to help address next year’s looming electricity shortage. Under the program, big power users will be asked to run their own generators when supply is tight instead of getting their supply from the grid. In exchange, they will be compensated for their fuel and other costs.

As a result, the electricity that would not be taken from the grid would be available to households and other users, sparing them from rotating blackouts.

Companies that committed to participate in the program are mostly mall operators, condominium, hotel companies and other property developers.

These are The Taipan Place Condominium Association Inc., SM Prime Holdings Inc., Robinsons Land Corp., Waltermart Malls, Ayala Land, Inc., Rustan’s Supercenters Inc., the PLDT-Smart Group, Shangri-La Plaza Corp., Century Properties Group, Xin Tian Ti Development Corp., Alphaland Development Inc. and Philam Properties Corp.

Also on the list are Megaworld Corp., Ortigas & Co., Federal Land Inc., GMA Network Inc., Fort Bonifacio Development Corp., Sunstar Mall, Trafalgar Plaza Condominium, Makati Sky Plaza Inc., Prestige Tower Condominium, ABC Development Corp., Raffles Condominium Corp., the JMT Condominium Corp., Manta Equities Inc., Posh Properties Development Co., Feature Realty Holdings & Development, Poer Concessionaries, Inc., Citystate Centre Condominium Corp. and Seda Hotel-Bonifacio Global City.

Meralco said under the program, its customers with loads of at least one MW are called upon to voluntarily reduce their consumption if needed, during peak hours of the day or from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. by running their own generator sets, instead of drawing their power directly from the grid.

The power distributor continues to appeal to other corporate customers to heed the government’s call to be part of the solution to address next year’s power shortage.

Outside Meralco’s franchise area, the power distributor said there are more than 300 large enterprises sourcing power from retail electricity suppliers (RES).

These big businesses have a combined 1,100 MW of self-generating capabilities.

“The participation of these RES customers will be a big boost to the success of the ILP,” Meralco said in an advisory.