ACEN, too, wants to recover losses from Meralco

MANILA, Philippines  -Ayala-led ACEN Corp. wants to recover more than P2.5 billion in losses related to power supply deals with distribution giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), incurred due to a surge in global coal prices back in 2022.

This developed two years after two power generation subsidiaries of San Miguel Corp. filed for rate increases for their own supply contracts with Meralco.

ACEN’s concern refers to two power supply agreements (PSAs) with Meralco that the supplier won in 2019.

The PSAs provided that ACEN was to provide Meralco electricity sourced from the 246-megawatt (MW) South Luzon Thermal Energy Corp. (SLTEC) coal power plant in Batangas province.

In its “change in circumstance” notice sent to Meralco last Feb. 1, ACEN reported at least P2.23 billion in additional costs under its PSA with Meralco, and another P329.65 million under a separate PSA.

Of ACEN’s total claim, the company said that P1.85 billion accounted for purchases from third-party generators and from the spot market as replacement supply.

READ: ACEN eyes P20-B loan for renewable energy expansion plans

The remaining P706.24 million was used to shoulder additional costs for the SLTEC plant.

Jose Ronald Valles, head of regulatory management at Meralco, told reporters on Monday that ACEN was only entitled to recover the P706.24 million it spent to draw power from SLTEC.

Valles said recovering the amount would mean a rate increase of around 4 centavos per kilowatt-hour in the monthly bills of Meralco customers for six months.

He added that if ACEN disagreed, then the Ayala unit would have the option to end the PSAs. INQ