Meralco eyes franchise expansion

MANILA, Philippines—The Manila Electric Co. is keen on expanding its franchise area beyond Metro Manila to neighboring provinces in a bid to make power distribution in other areas more efficient and less burdensome for consumers.

Meralco chief operating officer Oscar Reyes said the distribution utility could bring its expertise and long experience in network management and service to provinces that might be having problems with power distribution.

“We would like to see if we could bring the benefit of our experience and resources to other areas so we can serve the customer. The important things to consider are if we are welcome in the community, if we can create value and help, if it makes business sense for us, and if we will get government support,” Reyes said.

“It’s really being able to bring what we have here in terms of bringing efficiencies (and improving) system loss performance. We want to be able to help other areas,” Reyes added.

The possible areas that Meralco could go into are still being identified and studied, according to Reyes.

The main problems that Meralco would like to address, he said, were inefficiencies, high system losses, and frequent power interruptions.

“Especially for areas that frequently experience service interruptions, we want to improve their lives by giving them livelihood opportunities and opening economic doors. For this to happen, the whole energy community has to work together: the generators, (National Transmission Corp., National Grid Corporation of the Philippines), the distributors, cooperatives and the government,” Reyes said.

Meralco president and chief executive officer Manuel Pangilinan said the company’s franchise expansion bid sounded easy enough to accomplish, but there were a few things to be considered.

In some areas, for example, power distribution was handled by a particular family, he said. In most areas, this was done by electric cooperatives.

“The legal process with the electric cooperatives is still something that we have to clarify, and whether this has to go to Congress for approval. It’s not as simple as we make it sound,” he said.

Meralco’s franchise area spans the entire Metro Manila, plus the nearby provinces of Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and parts of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga and Quezon.