Transco sells subtransmission assets worth P5B

State-run National Transmission Corp. (Transco) has sold P5.3 billion worth of subtransmission assets to various power distribution companies in line with its privatization program.

In a report, the Department of Energy stated that as of October 2012, Transco was able to sign 101 sale contracts with 75 distribution utilities, electric, cooperatives and consortia. These covered a total of about 3,700 circuit-kilometers (ckm) of subtransmission lines, composed of 33,000 subtransmission structures and 850 megavolt amperes (MVA) of substation capacity, the DOE said.

Of the 101, 45 contracts worth P2.3 billion have already been approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission as of end October 2012. The rest of the sale contracts are still undergoing ERC filing, evaluation or approval, the DOE added.

Under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira), subtransmission assets will be operated and maintained by Transco until their transfer to qualified distribution utilities. These utilities will take over the responsibility of operating, maintaining, upgrading and expanding the grid assets.

In cases where more than one distribution utility is connected to a transmission line, connected and qualified utilities will have to form a consortium to buy and operate the asset.

Transco’s subtransmission assets are made up of about 6,200 ckm. The value of these assets was placed at about P7.6 billion, based on their 2007 net book values.