Masinloc deal initiates 'open access'
Monday, April 17, 2006
The hasty proposition of suddenly giving large electricity consumers the ‘power of choice’ through open access essentially rooted from the government’s wish to provide alternative market for the 600-megawatt Masinloc coal-fired power facility, a ranking energy official has finally admitted.
Since the winning bidder cannot secure a transition supply contract (TSC) with the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) for the power plant’s output, the winning bidder and its recruited partner, Malaysian firm Ranhill Power Berhad, pleaded for government’s action on possible alternative market through open access.
Given such, Malacañang with underpinning of the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), sought what was supposed to be a "voluntary offer" of Meralco to open its commercial and industrial customers with peak demand of 1.0 megawatt and up to have their choice of electricity suppliers.
PSALM’s line of defense was "we must consider the environment under which the plant is being purchased -the plant was purchased as a merchant and any businessman would have assumed some parameters or conditions at a time when the plant is being turned over to them."
The giant utility firm’s offer was made on condition that its contracted independent power producers (IPPs) be dispatched at contract volumes (or the so-called minimum energy quantity or MEQ) for the supply that it would utilize to service its remaining captive customers.
posted by philpower @ 2:37 PM,
