IN MY PREVIOUS column I mentioned that MORE Power president Roel Castro announced that the company will have an additional P1.1-billion investment for modernization after approval of its latest budget.
MORE Power started with P1.9 billion in Emergency Capital Expenditures when it took over as Iloilo City’s power distribution utility back in 2020.
With this P1.1-bllion additional investment, it brings to a total the company’s investment to P3 billion for “I Am Iloilo City”.
Good news indeed. More capital investments means more modernization and rehabilitation projects to bring the power distribution system up to par with the 21st century.
The additional P1.1 billion is timely as MORE Power had already spent almost P1 billion from the P1.33 billion initial capital mainly rehabilitating the city’s power distribution network.
That CAPEX budget was used specifically rehabilitating power substations, procure additional 10MVA Mobile substation at Megaworld, and replacing 20,000 defective meters, 600 distribution transformers, and 2,000 old posts.
These improvements dramatically reduced unscheduled power interruptions ensuring Ilonggos a reliable power supply.
MORE Power also reduced systems loss from 28 percent to just seven percent through an aggressive campaign against power pilferage i.e. Oplan Valeria.
With this additional capital, three more substations will be added anticipating the increasing power demand of the city specifically at Megaworld and Arevalo district while the other mobile substation will be used to further rehabilitate the existing substations.
All these substations and feeders will then be connected in a looping system with a Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems installed for a digital operations/monitoring of “I Am Iloilo City’s” power distribution.
Of course all these modern innovations to make life better for the consumer come at a price a shared burden for a reliable power supply.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approved MORE Electric and Power Corporation’s (MORE Power) application for rate increase to recoup expenses in the improvements introduced to power distribution services here, said Niel Parcon, the power firm’s Corporate Planning and Regulatory Affairs head.
The ERC order approving the 47-centavo increase per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of Distribution, Supply and Metering (DSM) rate was dated June 8, 2022.
Don’t worry folks; we’re still alright, despite the minimal increase of 47 centavos bringing new rates hovering between P8 to P9 per kilowatt hour when implemented, still a far cry from current rates of other power distribution utilities which hovers from a low of P10 per kilowatt hour to a high of P14 per kilowatt hour.
Plus there’s the assurance of MORE Power that they will continue to look for alternative sources in the open market.
Excerpts from a June 29, 2022 article on bilyonaryo.com:
Iloilo City residents will soon enjoy a stable source of clean energy with ultra Bilyonaryo Enrique Razon-led More Electric and Power Corp. signing a 20-megawatt (MW) mid-merit supply from Energy Development Corp.
The five-year power supply deal, which starts on July 25, will come from EDC’s Unified Leyte Geothermal Power Plant, one of the company’s most extensive geothermal facilities.
MORE’s move to get power from the Lopez family’s EDC is a part of the distribution utility’s customer welfare-driven initiatives that aim to provide stability and reliability in supply and fixed power rates to its power consumers.
“Green power is not only reliable but also affordable. MORE Power gives priority to affordability of electricity, then having renewable energy in our portfolio. We are confident that this partnership with First Gen and EDC will give us both our priorities that will benefit our consumers in the long term. Especially now that global fuel prices are, and will continue to be volatile, having renewable energy in our portfolio will save our consumers from high electricity costs,” said MORE Power president and CEO Roel Castro.
And more from MORE Power: Excerpts from a June 21, 2022 article on Panay News:
Consumers of MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) is expected to benefit from business tycoon Enrique Razon Jr’s plan to build the world’s largest solar power facility.
Razon, through infrastructure firm Prime Infrastructure Holdings Inc. (Prime Infra), will venture into solar power in a bid to boost the country’s renewable energy supply.
The planned solar power facility will have a capacity of 2,500 megawatts (MW) to 3,500 MW and a battery energy storage system (BESS) capacity of 4,000-megawatt hour (MWh) to 4,500 MWh.
MORE Power president and chief operating officer Roel Z. Castro said the solar power project will help cushion the effects of inflation on fuel prices and even the electricity industry, thus, a big help to the power consumers like the Ilonggo.
At the end of the day, MORE Power is still looking for more ways to provide Ilonggos with cheap reliable power supply./PN
