Meralco secures ERC nod to buy Transco assets

Manila Electric Co., the country’s biggest power distributor, has secured regulatory approval to acquire eight subtransmission assets owned by the government through the National Transmission Corp. (Transco) for P85 million.

According to the Energy Regulatory Commission, Meralco has the “financial and technical capabilities to operate, maintain, upgrade and expand the subtransmission assets.”

Meralco was proven to be the only distribution utility directly connected with the said assets for sale. Thus, no consortium is required to be formed for the acquisition of the assets that had been put up for sale.

The assets were the Makban-Los Baños 69 kilovolt line, Makban-Calamba 69 kV line portion, Calamba-CSE 13.8 kV, Los Baños-BSP 13.8 kV, Los Baños-IRRI/ERDB/PPRDI 13.8 kV, Calamba substation equipment, Los Baños substation equipment, and Makban substation termination equipment.

Meralco and Transco already negotiated and concluded a “Contract to Sell” years ago. However, the sale contracts would only take effect once the ERC gave its nod.

Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 (Epira), requires Transco to sell all of its subtransmission assets to qualified power distributors.

“The transfer of ownership and control of the subtransmission assets will enable distribution utilities to expand their operations, become more efficient, serve more customers and improve service,” Transco said.

Transco still has P8.8 billion worth of subtransmission assets nationwide, which includes 6,900 circuit kilometers of mostly 69-kV lines and 1,600 MVA of substation capacity. It began to divest its assets in 2004.