Global Energy Supply gets license to retail electricity

MANILA, Philippines—The Energy Regulatory Commission has allowed Global Energy Supply Corp. (GESC), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Metrobank Group’s Global Business Power Corp., to sell electricity to qualified customers under the upcoming open access and retail competition regime.

GESC now holds a retail electricity supplier license (RES)—the 15th to be granted by the ERC. It plans to source the electricity from the nine power plants in which Global Business Power holds interests, to provide prospective customers with baseload, intermediate and peaking power.

The Metrobank subsidiary also intends to source power from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and the privatized assets of the state-run National Power Corp. through supply agreements with the administrators of the independent power producers (IPPs).

ERC chairperson and CEO Zenaida G. Cruz-Ducut noted that the licensing of retail electricity suppliers was one critical task that is being done by the ERC to “ensure a level playing field in the Competitive Retail Electricity Market.”

“The screening of applicants is done very carefully to protect the best interest of electricity consumers and enhance the competitive operation of the retail electricity market,” she added.

Ducut earlier said that the commission wanted to have as many eligible RES license holders as possible, since having more players in the electric power industry would lead to a healthy business competition in the open access and retail competition environment, which has been scheduled to commence on December 26, 2011.

An RES license, which is valid for five years, is a requirement to operate under the open access regime. An applicant must meet the criteria and standards set by the ERC, including having technical, financial and managerial capabilities to ensure the fulfillment of its contractual obligations with customers for reliable electricity supply.

It is also vital for a prospective RES to have the capability to set up a business-to-business (B2B) system that will facilitate information exchange over the Internet.

Other companies that already have RES licenses are the Ayala-led Philippine Integrated Energy Solution Inc. (PIESI); Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp.; the Aboitiz-led AdventEnergy Inc. and AboitizEnergy Solutions Inc. (AESI); GN Power Ltd. Co.; GNPower Mariveles Coal Plant Ltd. Co.; First Gen. Energy Solutions, Inc.; Cabanatuan Electric Corp.; Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd.; Premier Energy Resources Corp.; and TeaM Philippines Energy.