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Manila Bulletin devider Business devider Trade & Industry devider Meralco eyes Batangas electric coops with new investment push

Meralco eyes Batangas electric coops with new investment push

Published Apr 8, 2026 01:05 pm
Meralco Senior Vice President and Chief for External and Government Affairs Arnel P. Casanova stresses the plan is fully laid out to equip BATELEC 2’s leadership with necessary capital and technical expertise.
Meralco Senior Vice President and Chief for External and Government Affairs Arnel P. Casanova stresses the plan is fully laid out to equip BATELEC 2’s leadership with necessary capital and technical expertise.

Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is not giving up on Batangas’ two electric cooperatives (ECs) as it firms up its plans to infuse investments into the province.

As the company revisits its potential partnership with Batangas II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Batelec II), as well as expanding its collaboration to Batelec I, Meralco said that it is eyeing an open bidding to be conducted by the ECs, especially as another distribution utility (DU) has made its own proposal.

Arnel Casanova, Meralco senior vice president and strategic DU partnerships head, encouraged Batelec I and II to conduct a competitive public bidding, which could encourage a more transparent selection process amid receiving another proposal from another power company, Prime Electric Holdings Inc. (PHI), which is led by tycoon Enrique K. Razon Jr.

“We’re hoping that eventually, Batelec II would conduct a public bidding. Our request is to really [ease] it, because it has been there for a long time. It’s for the best interest that a bidding would be conducted immediately,” he told reporters in an interview last Tuesday, April 7.

Casanova clarified that this potential capital infusion is not an overall takeover of the ECs, but rather Meralco would invest in their infrastructure works, which are aimed at enhancing the areas’ power supply reliability. This includes generating more funds to improve the supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system, integrating smart grids, substation developments, and line upgrades, among others.

According to Casanova, Meralco plans to make Batelec I and II into profitable assets, as it would allow them to convert into a stock market corporation under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), wherein member-consumers would receive dividends.

“We’re just going to buy shares of the EC, because eventually, when they convert from non-stocks and profit, then they convert to stock so they have no shares that they can sell to us... They can issue additional shares which Meralco is going to buy, and that the money that we pay for the shares will be utilized for upgrades,” Casanova explained.

Once Meralco secures these two areas, it will be able to expand its presence into the whole of Batangas, as it currently only serves Batangas City, Santo Tomas City, and San Pascual town.

Apart from this, Meralco is also eyeing a similar partnership with South Cotabato II Electric Cooperative Inc. (Socoteco II) as it hopes for another competitive bidding against Ignite Power, which is owned by both Razon and boxing champ Manny Pacquiao.

Related Tags

MERALCO Batangas Electric Cooperative 2 (BATELEC 2)
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