Power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is seeking more generation companies (GenCos) to join in its 170-megawatt emergency power supply procurement next month.

The targeted five-month capacity purchase will be carried out through a competitive selection process (CSP) with submission of tenders slated on February 2, 2022.

Meralco emphasized that this round of supply sourcing will help augment its peaking power requirements during the summer months as well as in the election period – two pivotal periods when the country will be experiencing surge in electricity demand.

Atty. Jose Ronald V. Valles, head of Meralco’s regulatory management office, reiterated that the additional supply sourcing “will help Meralco ensure availability of reliable and cost-competitive supply, which is especially critical during the 2022 dry months and the upcoming national and local elections.”

In previous elections, alleged cheating in national and local voting processes were partly blamed on incidents of electricity service interruptions, hence, power firms are not taking chances when it comes to availability and reliability of power supply at the stretch of the polling period.

Via the third party bids and awards committee (TPBAC) of Meralco’s CSP undertaking, the company stated that “interested parties have until Wednesday (January 5) to submit expressions of interest for the contract covering the period February 26, 2022 to July 25, 2022.”

Prospective bidders that they will have a chance to participate in the pre-bid conference slated on January 12 this year – and that will serve as a venue to raise concerns or questions that they may have relating to the supply procurement.

Once the winning offer in the CSP is announced, there will be subsequent signing of power supply agreement (PSA) between Meralco and the GenCo with the ‘most acceptable’ offer.

Following that, the parties will have to make a joint filing with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to secure the industry regulator’s approval on the rate and its eventual pass-on in the electric bills of consumers.

The terms of reference for the CSP was approved by the Department of Energy (DOE) last December, paving the way for Meralco “to proceed with the emergency procurement for the supply needed to meet the anticipated increase in demand in the coming months.”

By carrying out power supply procurement through competitive bidding, the DOE said the distribution utilities (DUs) that are catering to the electricity service needs of customers would be able to choose the ‘lowest-cost price of power’ that they can add into their supply portfolio.