The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has secured the best bids for 1,800 megawatts (MW) of supply from three generation companies with the completion of a competitive selection process (CSP) last week.
The distribution utility said four of the six bidders submitted their qualification documents, technical proposal and bid price.
Meralco said Aboitiz Power Corp.’s GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. (GNPD) as well as San Miguel Corp.’s Mariveles Power Generation Corp. (MPGC) and Excellent Energy Resources Inc. (EERI) submitted the lowest price offers for the distribution utility’s future baseload requirement.
GNPD offered a total levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) rate of P6.8580 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) for 300 MW of the total requirement while MPGC offered P6.9971 per kWh LCOE for another 300 MW supply.
EERI put in a bid with the biggest capacity at 1,200 MW for P7.1094 per kWh LCOE.
Meralco said Masinloc Power Co. Ltd. (MPCL), the other generation company that participated in the bidding, offered for 300 MW at a rate of P7.1417 per kWh.
However, with EERI’s bid completing the required 1,800 MW total supply requirement, MPCL’s bid was designated as a possible next best bid.
Meralco said all offers received were below the reserve prices set for this CSP and underwent a very stringent pass/fail completeness assessment and pre-qualification evaluation.
A post-qualification evaluation follows.
The resulting power supply agreements from this CSP cover Meralco’s future baseload requirement for a 15-year period beginning December 2024.
Lawrence Fernandez, Meralco chairman of bids and awards committee for power supply agreements, said as a regulated entity, the company has conducted its business in full compliance with all rules and regulations issued by the Energy Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy.
Meralco is in the process of seeking qualified suppliers for a separate 660 MW and 1,200 MW worth of CSPs.
Under CSP, a distribution utility may only sign power supply agreements with generation companies only after calling for and receiving at least two qualified bids and will only be allowed to have direct negotiations with other power suppliers only after at least two failed bidding procedures.
