Meralco yields high turnout on ILP ‘dry run’

The dry run undertaken by the Manila Electric Company (Meralco) on its interruptible load program (ILP) participants had been at a high rate of more than 70-percent.

This was indicated to the media by Meralco vice president Lawrence S. Fernandez, as he noted that there is a good chance many of those self-generating facilities can be called on to run when supply in the Luzon grid turns critical.

He explained that some of those which have not participated in the dry run provided reasons such as nonreadiness to run either due to repairs undertaken on their facilities or some cannot be part of the de-loading program due to the nature of their operations.

With more participants anticipated to be in the ILP, Fernandez has expounded that this will turn out beneficial because “it means we would not be calling on the same gensets running too often.”

The ILP concept revolves around the fact that those with self-generating units would be asked to de-load from the grid so there could be other end-users that could be funneled with electricity service from the available supply in the grid at any particular time.

There have been compensation schemes set for the ILP participants as approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), but it was the subsidy parameter that has been left hanging in the Joint Resolution being pushed by Congress under the emergency powers prescribed for President Aquino.

The Lower House wants a subsidy from the Malampaya fund; while the Senate proffers full pass- on to the consumers. As could be culled from numbers crunched, that extent of subsidy could be to the tune of 200 million.

The proposed incremental de-loading rate for ILPs had been set at 1.20 per kilowatt hour plus compensation for fuel and the allowable maintenance cost of 3,200.

As earlier computed by Meralco, this could redound to 0.04 per kilowatt hour (kWh) as final pass- on rate in the consumers’ electric bills.

But Fernandez emphasized that if the ILPs would not be called upon to rely on their own power supply, there would be no added impact on the consumers.