The signing last week of an agreement that will pilot retail aggregation will encourage more participants to join this scheme that is seen to help industries save on power costs.
The retail aggregation program allows two or more electricity end-users within a contiguous area to join to pool their demand and be treated as a single contestable customer in directly negotiating power rates and in entering into retail electricity supply contracts with preferred suppliers.
Last week, the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and University of the Philippines-Diliman (UP Diliman), signed a memorandum of understanding to pilot the implementation of retail aggregation that will allow the academic institution to choose its preferred supplier of electricity for the combined power requirements of its various buildings.
UP Diliman signified its intent to explore retail choice mechanisms to comply with the directive of the Inter-Agency Efficiency and Conservation Committee under the Government Energy Management Program, to reduce the government’s monthly electricity consumption.
The academic institution said the program will be done in phases but will cover all 149 customer accounts within the campus with a combined demand of 4.27 megawatts.
To provide UP Diliman what it needs to participate in the retail supply market and minimize incremental costs, Meralco proposed the use of meters with remote data collection capability and electronic tabulation of individual readings of buildings within the campus.
Danilo Concepcion, UP Diliman president, said they expect the move to result in lower electricity consumption costs, more savings and a more efficient means of measuring the campus’ electricity consumption.
Jose Ronald Valles, Meralco first vice president and head of regulatory management office, said the pilot program with UP Diliman and the ERC, also further expands customers’ choices.
Meanwhile, Agnes Devanadera, ERC chairperson, expects more consumers to follow the same strategy taken by Meralco and UP Diliman as this empowers customers to choose electricity suppliers that offer better rates and better services.
