AboitizPower utility sees bright prospects in franchise area
AboitizPower-led dis tribution utility Cotabato Light and Power Co. (CLPC) sees rosy prospects in its franchise area in the medium term as robust economic growth continues to spread across the country.
CLPC projects to grow its demand by 8.47 percent this year in anticipation of several big loads soon to be covered by its franchise area. Demand within the Cotabato-based utility grew by 14 percent to 32 MW in 2018 from 28 MW in 2017. Its customer base grew by a modest 1.3 percent from 41,110 in 2017 to 41,645 in 2018.
“We are very pleased with our growth in 2018 and maintain this trajectory moving forward. We’ve seen impressive economic growth in Cotabato City, driven by the government’s efforts to bring in investors over the past few years,” said Cotabato Light vice president and chief operating officer Ben Caro C. Arkoncel.
These include the facilities and offices of the Cotabato Regional and Medical Center, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines, as well as a factory, mall, and hotel, among other s.
Cot abat o Li ght showed improvement in reliability, having been able to reduce the average number of interruptions each customer experiences in a year from six in 2017 to 2.5 in 2018. The utility also reduced the average duration of power interruptions in a year to 122 minutes in 2018 from 811 minutes in 2017.
This can be attributed to the installation of line reclosers and load break switches, intensification of vegetation management, augmentation of line maintenance, putting in place wildlife shields to eliminate or minimize animal intrusion of power lines, improvement of substation maintenance, and upgrading of overloaded distribution transformers, among others.
Cotabato Light’s franchise area covers the city of Cotabato as well as portions of the municipalities of Datu Odin Sinsuat and Sultan Kudarat in Maguindanao.
To keep up with the development within the respective franchise areas of its utilities, AboitizPower has set aside P3.1 billion to modernize its existing distribution assets across the country.
“We want to take advantage of the robust economic growth in our franchise areas by making sure power is delivered to our customers reliably, sustainably, and at the most cost-effective way. The initiatives we have mapped out for this year and beyond are part of our effort to become world-class and the best at what we do,” said Jaime Jose Y. Aboitiz, chief operating officer of the AboitizPower Distribution Group.
AboitizPower is currently one of the largest electricity distributors in the Philippines with ownership interests in seven distribution utilities including the second and third largest in the country. The distribution subsidiaries of AboitizPower include Davao Light and Power Co. and Visayan Electric Company in Cebu, among others.
Through the Aboitiz Group, AboitizPower has more than 80 years of experience in the Philippine power distribution sector and has been known for innovation and efficient operations. (Press Release)