Visayan Electric calls on biz customers to sign up for ILP
To help ensure that there is sufficient power supply in the coming months, especially during the election season, Visayan Electric is calling on its commercial and industrial customers to sign up for the Interruptible Load Program (ILP).
ILP is a voluntary, demand-side management program where business customers of a distribution utility with loads of at least 1 megawatts, sign an agreement that they will run their own generator sets and collectively reduce electricity drawn from the grid when power interruptions are imminent, to ration limited power supply. This is in anticipation of the thin power reserves margins in the months of May and June, due to increased demand forecasted by the Department of Energy.
Visayan Electric last implemented the ILP in 2015 when there was a power supply concern after a generating plant’s emergency shutdown. There were a total of 28 business customers who enrolled with the ILP at that time, with a total of 68 megawatts power requirement.
“We in Visayan Electric would like to prepare and move proactively to avert potential power supply concerns in the coming months. The ILP is one concrete way for us and our key customers to collaborate and help avoid the negative impacts of the forecast increased power demand this summer. By working together we can help alleviate the stresses to our power system, and result in a more stable and reliable grid for everyone. We would like to invite our commercial and industrial customers to enroll in the program,” said Visayan Electric President and Chief Operating Officer, Engr. Raul C. Lucero.
The ILP, he added, has already proven to be a big help in addressing supply concerns in the Visayan Electric franchise in the past. Previous ILP activations averted brownouts from affecting hundreds of thousands of Cebu households.
Among the utility firm’s customers who were formerly enrolled in the ILP were APO Cement Corporation, SM Malls, Waterfront Hotel, Ayala Center Cebu, Metro Gaisano, Elizabeth Mall, Chong Hua Hospital and Robinson’s Cybergate.
Currently, however, since most of the businesses and industries who enrolled in the ILP with Visayan Electric in 2015 have already qualified for the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA), new tripartite agreements have to be signed to now include their respective Retail Electricity Supplier (RES).
Business customers who are interested to enroll may get in touch with their respective Key Account Managers or get in touch with Visayan Electric through info@visayanelectric.com.