AECO Energy expands procurement, management services

Singapore-based technology company AECO Energy has announced the expansion of its electricity procurement and management services in the Philippines to help lower the cost of power for so-called contestable customers, or those large high-end consumers who can purchase their electricity directly retail suppliers.

At a virtual launch last week, AECO said this expansion would allow the company to provide local support for upcoming customers and partner retail electricity suppliers (RES).

“We are optimistic about the prospects that await us here in the Philippines. I’m sure our 14 years of experience in delivering energy services and solutions in mature deregulated markets will be critical to our success,” said Alan Jones, chief executive officer and founder of the Asia Energy Co. (AECO) group.

With around 50 percent of its total workforce already based in the Philippines, AECO wants to introduce an electricity management and procurement platform for contestable customers who prefer to run their own reverse auction.

A reverse auction system allows customers to choose the most competitive prices in the open electricity market.

At the same time, AECO, which began operations in 2009 in Brisbane, Australia, offers end-to-end management service for customers, beginning with comparing the prices of suppliers, to awarding a new electricity contract and switching to the new RES.

It also provides a bidding platform developed for RES to automate bidding requests from contestable customers.

“With the understanding that contestable customers’ needs are unique for every organization, our energy experts will work closely with customers to help them reduce their costs, drive efficiency, and make better buying decisions,” said Debbie Alfonso, AECO Philippines general manager.

“By providing technology-based, data-led energy technology solutions, we want to create a profound impact on our customers’ business to better position them for sustainable growth in the long-term,” she added.

According to national sales manager Mike de Mesa, AECO’s pool of experts—analysts, fund managers and lawyers—use in-house software technology that monitors the open electricity market.

This, he said, ensures customers that the entire procurement process will be much more efficient and that they can get the best prices.

At present, the Competitive Retail Electricity Market in the Philippines allows qualified contestable customers, or those consuming at least 750 kilowatts, to choose their electricity provider.

In April 2022, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said there were 1,897 contestable customers in the retail market, with total demand of 3,924.53 megawatts.

They enjoy lower power rates, with a weighted average generation rate of P4.05 per kilowatt hour.

In 2021, the ERC lowered the minimum monthly consumption level to qualify as a contestable customer from 750 kilowatts (kw) to 500 kw, expanding the coverage of Retail Competition and Open Access. INQ