ACEN Corp. and the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) have sought Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) approval for a proposed adjustment in the 310-megawatt baseload and mid-merit contract for power already delivered in 2022.
This was learned from ERC Monalisa Dimalanta who said the proposed adjustment filed in the first week of March is allowed under so-called change in circumstances (CIC) provisions of their contract.
Meralco previously said ACEN wants to apply CIC claims in its power supply agreement (PSA) following an increase in the cost of coal and need to recover additional fees for the power supplied in 2022.
Based on Meralco validation, ACEN CIC claims total P706.14 million to be recovered from consumers over six months. ACEN originally estimated the amount at P2.56 billion.
“Meralco advised us that this is how they treated the other contracts. So, based on an equal treatment principle, we are supportive. We broke it down according to sources of supply for transparency. It is a quasi financial contract so you can interpret it in various ways,” said Eric Francia, ACEN president and chief executive officer.
Meralco had said it wants to keep the PSA with ACEN rather than terminate it, noting the P706.14 million additional charge is cheaper than if the power distributor were to procure the 310 MW of electricity today.
Meralco had said ACEN’s CIC claims of P706.14 million translate to an increase of more than 4 centavos in the generation charge of consumers spread over a period of six months.
