Gokongwei-owned Robinsons Land Corp. (RLC) enlisted at least 10 of its malls with the interruptible load program (ILP) of power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) to prevent brownouts.

ILP is a scheme wherein entities with self-generating assets will need to switch on their facilities when there is supply tightness in the main power grid so rotational blackouts can be prevented.

The ILP is a demand-side management (DSM) strategy being pushed by both the Department of Energy (DOE) and Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) so power service interruptions will not adversely impact greater number of consumers.

The participating malls of the Gokongwei group include: Robinsons Place Malolos; Robinsons Town Mall Malabon; Robinsons Place Manila-Main; Robinsons Place Manila-Midtown; Robinsons Place Las Pinas; Robinsons Place Antipolo; Robinsons Magnolia-Extension; Robinsons General Trias; Robinsons Galleria South; and Robinsons Tagaytay Summit.

RLC Executive Vice President Faraday D. Go said “Robinsons Malls has always been a steadfast partner of the government and fully supports the ILP program to help address power and energy contingency requirements, should the need arise.”

By registering as ILP participants, the Robinsons malls will be called upon to run their own generating assets or for them to temporarily de-load from the main grid when power supply tightens or if brownouts turn inevitable. The utilization of these facilities will be compensated according to the cost-recovery mechanism prescribed by the ERC.

The aggregate capacity of the ILP-enrolled generating assets of Robinsons malls hovered at 31 megawatts and when these are used, Meralco noted that they “can potentially spare around 124,000 households and small businesses from the inconvenience of unplanned power interruptions.”

Being the country’s largest power utility, Meralco has been leading the charge when it comes to securing ILP participants and it is actively pursuing this program given projections that Luzon grid may suffer predicaments of recurring power supply tightness between this year until 2024.

At this stage, Meralco already cornered at least 121 companies as participants in the ILP program and the total capacity of these entities could sum up to 552 megawatts.

“While there are no immediate threats of supply deficiency, the power distributor has put in place contingency measures that include the ILP to ensure delivery of continuous, stable, and reliable electricity service to the customers within its franchise area all year round,” the power firm stressed.

As noted by Meralco Chief Commercial Officer Ferdinand O. Geluz, their company has been engaging large customers “to participate in the ILP so that, in the eventuality of a crisis, we have the contingencies in place to prevent brownouts.:”

He qualified though that “fortunately, the projections on the dips in power supply did not affect much of our customers, as we always find ways and means to anticipate our customers’ needs.”

The power firm added that “with commercial and industrial segments accounting for a huge part of Meralco’s customer base, cooperation and support of its big-load customers are crucial to the success of the (ILP) program.”