McDonald’s Philippines has selected COREnergy, the retail electricity supply unit of Vivant Energy, to help its Visayas locations join the country’s Retail Aggregation Program and Retail Competition and Open Access scheme. The partnership, announced Tuesday, will initially cover 36 restaurants across Cebu and Negros Island, with capacity details yet to be disclosed. Thirty-two of these stores will take part in the Retail Aggregation Program, split equally between Cebu and Negros Occidental, while the rest will transition individually under Retail Competition and Open Access. Retail Competition and Open Access lets qualified large power users with a set monthly demand threshold choose their electricity provider for better rates, while the Retail Aggregation Program allows smaller users to combine their demand to meet that threshold and negotiate lower prices.
With this deal, the participating restaurants are projected to lower electricity costs by around 10 percent on average, with fixed rates locked in for two years to improve budget certainty. Between 10 and 15 percent of the power supplied will also come from solar energy, raising the chain’s renewable energy use. “As we continue to grow in the Visayas, we’re equally focused on improving how our restaurants operate. Electricity is one of the largest operating costs in our business. By working with COREnergy, we can better manage this expense and build more energy-efficient restaurants as we grow,” said McDonald’s Philippines managing director Margot Torres. COREnergy president Francis del Val noted the stores will gain access to competitive rates and renewable options that support smoother operations and stronger long-term results.
The partnership comes as both companies expand their Visayas presence; McDonald’s has already opened seven new locations in Cebu this year alone. Torres added that smarter management of major costs like electricity helps keep offerings affordable for customers and supports the sustainability of both company-run and franchised outlets. This agreement is part of broader national efforts by McDonald’s to improve energy efficiency, with the target of moving roughly 64 percent of its entire restaurant network under the Retail Aggregation Program by the end of 2026.
Separately, Vivant Corporation announced in May it allocated P67 billion for its energy and water businesses up to 2030, with P60 billion earmarked for energy and P7 billion for water projects. The Cebu-based group aims to lift its total attributable generation capacity to 1,000 megawatts by 2030, with at least 30 percent coming from renewable sources, and currently operates power projects with a combined capacity of 471 megawatts.
