Meralco Selects San Miguel, Aboitiz Units for 600MW Power Supply Deals

MANILA, Philippines — Energy firms controlled by Ang-led San Miguel Corp. (SMC) and the Aboitiz Group have placed the best bids to supply 600 megawatts (MW) of power to utility giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco). Meralco said Mariveles Power Gen Corp. (MPGC), Sual Power Inc. (SPI) and GNPower Mariveles Energy Center (GMEC) bested three other bidders in the utility’s competitive selection process. MPGC and SPI, both units of San Miguel Global Power, offered the lowest bid prices of P5.3573 and P5.4357 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), respectively, for 200 MW each. Aboitiz Power Corp.’s GMEC, meanwhile, initially bid P5.5789 per kWh for 600 MW before reducing its offered capacity to 200 MW, completing the requirement for the auction. Of the nine bidders that had expressed interest in this supply auction, only six companies submitted their qualification documents, technical proposals and bid prices yesterday. The other bidders were Masinloc Power Co. Ltd., which offered P5.6290 per kWh for 200 MW, and Therma Luzon Inc., which put in a bid of P5.6988 per kWh for 194 MW. According to the Meralco bids and awards committee for power supply agreements (BAC-PSA), almost all offers came in below the set reserve prices, except for that of Energy Development Corp. All bids underwent a stringent pass-or-fail completeness and pre-qualification assessment. “The Meralco BAC-PSA has fully complied with its mandate to conduct the bid in an open and transparent manner to achieve the least cost of electricity in accordance with rules and regulations set by the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC),” Meralco BAC-PSA chairman Lawrence Fernandez said. “The BAC-PSA will conduct a post-qualification evaluation and submit its recommendation and report to Meralco’s board of directors for approval of the best bids as the winning power suppliers prior to the issuance of notices of award,” Fernandez added. The resulting 15-year PSA from this auction will be submitted for ERC review and approval before being implemented. The initial 300 MW baseload supply is targeted to be delivered by Feb. 26, 2028, while the additional 300 MW is due to be supplied starting Feb. 26, 2029.