Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is weighing options to expand its footprint nationwide, with Albay emerging as the latest province seeking the power giant’s intervention to improve its electricity supply.

In an interview, Arnel Casanova, Meralco senior vice president and head of strategic distribution utility (DU) partnerships, said municipal officials from Albay have sought the company’s partnership to address growing consumer demand and power supply constraints in the province.

“The mayors actually [told us] they’re facing difficulties, because the businesses that were planning to move into their municipalities couldn’t invest because of the unreliability of power,” he told reporters.

“So they are encouraging us to actually look into [Albay Electric Cooperative Inc. or Aleco]… to be able to have a better service.”

Aleco is one of the few electric cooperatives exposed to the recent grid alerts and manual load dropping (MLD) implemented by the nation’s grid operator. During the prolonged power supply disruptions in Visayas, some residents in Albay experienced rotating brownouts as neighboring Bicol Region was also affected.

Casanova added that Meralco is currently studying the situation before deciding whether to submit an unsolicited proposal to Aleco—a similar approach to its other proposed partnerships with electric cooperatives (ECs).

Aside from Albay, Meralco is also open to partnering with other ECs as part of its nation-building efforts.

“We want to empower the ECs by infusing capital. So, as you observed, most of the ECs are non-profit entities and they cannot attract capital investment because of that structure,” Casanova said.

For years, Meralco has been eyeing investments in two Batangas electric cooperatives, Batangas Electric Cooperative Inc. (Batelec) I and Batelec II, through a competitive bidding process against Prime Electric Holdings Inc. (PHI) of the Razon group. According to Casanova, Batelec has been finalizing the terms of reference (TOR) before the bidding proper.

“We’re also looking at Socoteco [South Cotabato Electric Cooperative Inc.] II in General Santos [City]… Hopefully, they bid it out [just like] what Batelec has done. Because it actually ensures more transparency and it’s for the best interest of the member-consumers,” he added.

Meralco is not the only investor interested in Socoteco II. It is also competing with Ignite Power—a consortium backed by tycoon Enrique K. Razon Jr. and boxing champ Manny Pacquiao.

However, a recent court ruling allowed Socoteco II to proceed with its negotiations with Ignite Power, effectively closing the door, for now, on a potential partnership with Meralco.