By Myrna M. Velasco A leisure-resort at the Cagayan economic zone in Northern Luzon has secured its power supply via a retail electricity supply (RES) deal with Citicore Power, Inc., a renewable energy firm affiliated with the Megawide group. The power supply pact that was underwritten under the ambit of Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) had been inked between Cagayan Holiday & Leisure Resort (CHLR) and Citicore Energy Solutions, Inc. (CESI), the retail power supplier arm of Citicore Power. Under the RCOA scheme, companies will need to register as retail electricity suppliers (RES) with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) before they can negotiate and firm up contracts with prospective retail customer-clients. The deal between the Cagayan resort and CESI had not fleshed out the rate details and contracted volume, but Citicore indicated that “this will allow the supply of clean and sustainable energy to the luxury resort and casino complex in Cagayan.” According to Jack Yan, chief executive officer of CHLR, their resort “preferred Citicore as our retail electricity supplier because they offer complete, customized and competitively-priced solutions.” The RCOA regime of the country’s liberalized electricity sector enables direct contracting by a customer (with 750 kilowatts to 1.0-megawatt and up of consumption) with their chosen power suppliers. This is currently being done on a voluntary basis given some legal hurdles posed by a previous ruling of the Supreme Court. To many power end-users that opted to do their supply contracting via RCOA, they vouch that they are securing better and lower-priced electricity supply deals; and at the same time, their replacement power is also fully covered under the contracts – in case there would be some extreme tightening of power supply in the grid. As asserted by Citicore Power President Oliver Tan, “retail energy supply is definitely being recognized now in many industrial and commercial facilities as this enables them to choose their own electricity providers that can support their companies’ economic and sustainable goals.” This is also a domain in the deregulated power sector wherein Citicore has been anticipating expanded opportunities “to further push renewable energy development.” For CHLR, it noted that the retail power supply procurement from Citicore does not just delve about the cost-competitive pricing of power, but it also gives the resort firm “the opportunity to support the development of renewable energy and to help in reducing the impact of electricity generation on the environment.” What Citicore also promised to customer-CHLR is for it “to generate meaningful savings from operating costs,” and its clean energy choice will likewise earn it miles of headway into the world’s sustainability game. (MMV)