Power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is seeking regulatory approval on capital spending for the "emergency replacement" of a defective transformer at its Urdaneta substation to prevent blackouts at the commercial business districts (CBDs) of Makati and Taguig.

In its regulatory filing, Meralco indicated that its Urdaneta power transformer no. 3 “was no longer safe to be re-energized and was declared for replacement,” hence, it was prompted on doing the required facility replacement even prior to the grant of approval by the regulator.

The utility firm noted that since the transformer was no longer inoperable, it just opted to temporarily transfer the load of the facility to the adjacent Urdaneta transformer bank number 2 – but that is an arrangement that cannot be prolonged because of possible threats of overloading, especially when power demand rises because of post-Covid economic recovery.

“Considering the imminent risks posed by shifting the loads to the adjacent power transformer bank no. 2, Meralco was constrained to replace the defective Urdaneta power transformer no. 3 with an available 83 MVA (megavolt ampere), 115 kV(kilovolt)-34.5kV power transformer and was energized on September 25, 2021,” the power firm stressed.

Relative to the emergency capital expenditure (capex) being sought, the ERC has scheduled public hearings on Meralco’s petition on February 2 and 9 next year -- with expectation that the outcome of such process will become the industry regulator’s basis in granting approval to the filing.

The scale of capital spending sought for the facility replacement at the Urdaneta substation sited in Makati City had been pegged at P56.792 million.

On the option of transferring load to transformer bank no. 2, Meralco stated that when power demand would go back to pre-pandemic level, that facility could be operating critically at 89-percent level -- and overloading could cause more problems, including unwarranted power interruptions that will be affecting commercial establishments in the business districts, as well as the office of the Department of Trade and Industry.

The power firm added “the critical loading of power transformer bank no. 2 may result to an outage which will cause prolonged and massive interruption in the affected areas,” primarily in Makati City and some portions of the Fort Bonifacio Global City in Taguig.

Meralco further cautioned “in the event of another outage of the adjacent power transformer, coupled with the non-replacement of the Urdaneta Bank no. 3, there will be massive power interruptions to the detriment of customers in the affected areas.”

As specified by Meralco, the crucial establishments that would have been affected would include the property developments of Ayala Land Inc., Citi Tower Condominium Corporation, Citi Center, Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co., Tower One and Exchange Plaza Condominium, The World Center Condominium, Makati Shangrila Hotel, the Asian Institute of Management and the DTI office; while in Taguig, power interruptions could have spread to Enderun Colleges and Bonifacio Water Corporation.