Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Rep. Salceda's office)

The Philippine economy stands to benefit if the franchise of power distribution giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) gets renewed by Congress for another 25 years. 

Thus, said Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda, who had sought the quarter century extension to Meralco's existing franchise through his House Bill (HB) No.9793. 

"The case for renewing Meralco’s franchise is plain and simple: it has complied with the conditions of the franchise law and it is good for the economy and the consumer," Salceda, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means, said in a statement on Monday, May 13. 

Meralco's current franchise, embodied in Republic Act (RA) No.9209, won't expire until 2028.
The company's franchise area covers Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Pampanga, and Bulacan.  

"Meralco provides the most reliable service among all major electric cooperatives and distribution utilities (ECDUs), with outages suffered by the average consumer totaling to mere minutes in an entire year, versus days or weeks worth of blackouts for other neighboring ECDUs," noted the Bicolano. 

"If all ECDUs performed like Meralco, the economy would create an additional P201 billion in gross value added annually due to avoided outages," he claimed. 

Salceda says that systems loss charges by Meralco are "likewise among the lowest in the area—a product of the P220 billion Meralco has invested over the past twenty years to enhance its electric service". 

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He also said that because of Meralco's bargaining position and strong financials, it is also able to acquire power supply agreements (PSAs) in full compliance with rules on competitive selection. 

"As a testament to Meralco’s effectiveness as a service provider, at least 29 municipalities and cities and at least four provinces outside the franchise area have formally expressed interest to be served by Meralco," Salceda further said. 

The bill also seeks to expand the scope of the company’s operations, a provision absent in its existing franchise, RA No. 9209, which was signed into law in June 2003.  

"The grantee shall also be authorized to extend service to any adjacent or nearby city, municipality, barangay or province, whenever such service is requested by its residents or inhabitants, through their local government units, pursuant to a referendum called for that purpose in accordance with law or as otherwise directed by a court of competent jurisdiction,” read HB No.9793.