Kuala Lumpur — AboitizPower Distribution Utilities is considering acquiring Northern Davao Electric Cooperative (Nordeco) to help provide consumers with affordable power.

According to its Chief Operating Officer (COO) Anton Perdices, while the company is looking forward to buying Nordeco, many legal procedures need to be completed.

“We are willing to offer because as a consumer it’s hard to swallow that you are under Nordeco and across the street is Davao Light,” he told reporters on the sidelines of Enlit Asia 2024.

“We are there, but it has to go through Congress, Senate, and the President to pass a House Bill… It’s not as easy as switching off [power] one day to the next,” Perdices said.

He emphasized that having 24 hours of power at a cheaper price is something they hope to address for consumers under Nordeco, hence the acquisition interest.

“Asset purchase alone was somewhere between P700 million to a billion, then we would still need to do technical due diligence to see what it could take to raise the standards to our level,” he said, pertaining to improved distribution transformers, line qualities, meters, among others.

Davao Light and Power Company is the province’s electric distribution utility which provides service to Panabo City and the municipalities of Carmen, Dujali, and Sto. Tomas in Davao del Norte.

While Nordeco has been assigned as the electric coop of 16 municipalities, two cities and two provinces, Davao de Oro and Davao del Norte. They have been manning consumer electricity in these areas since 1971.

However, in early October, members of the House Committee on Legislative Franchises argued that Nordeco has failed to provide its consumers reliable power at a reasonable price.

Meanwhile, the electric coop refused a bill that would expand Davao Light’s coverage area as they assumed it would take over government properties that go against Civil Code as well as interfere with the Energy Regulatory Commission’s (ERC) power rates.