The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said it has granted Alsons Consolidated Resources Inc.’s (ARC) Western Mindanao Power Corp. (WMPC) an interim relief allowing the facility to start providing ancillary services to the Mindanao grid.
ERC chair Monalisa Dimalanta told reporters the company was given a provisional authority last week to sell electricity for dispatchable reserves at P0.85 per kilowatt hour, among other ancillary power services.
Philip Edward Sagun, ACR deputy chief financial officer, said ERC’s interim relief provides the company an opportunity to implement the firm ancillary services purchase agreement (ASPA) contract awarded to WMPC for dispatchable reserve, reactive power support and black start service.
“Once key clarifications have been made with the ERC, the WMPC can continue providing electricity, thus supporting the much-needed grid stability and Zamboanga Peninsula, ensuring a reliable power supply. We are in the process of procuring the necessary fuel to ensure the uninterrupted operation of WMPC,” Sagun said at ACR’s annual stockholders’ meeting yesterday.
Dimalanta assured the ERC “has been working hard in sorting out the issues attendant to the ASPAs awarded by NGCP.”
“We do not take lightly the requirement to approve whatever rates were awarded in the CSP (competitive selection process). We need to balance the requirement of the grid for system security with the impact of the awarded prices on the rates to be paid by consumers,” Dimalanta said.
