MORE than 30 areas outside the franchise area of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) have expressed interest in being served by the power distributor, House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman and Albay Rep. Jose Maria Clemente 鈥淛oey鈥 S. Salceda said on Monday.
鈥淎t least 29 municipalities and cities and at least four provinces outside the franchise area have formally expressed interest to be served by Meralco,鈥 Mr. Salceda said in a statement.
The lawmaker has filed House Bill No. 9793, which seeks to extend the power distributor鈥檚 existing franchise set to expire in 2028. The bill also aims to expand the scope of the company鈥檚 operations, a provision absent in its current franchise under Republic Act No. 9209, signed into law in June 2003.
鈥淭he case for renewing Meralco鈥檚 franchise is plain and simple: it has complied with the conditions of the franchise law and it is good for the economy and the consumer,鈥 he said.
鈥淢eralco provides the most reliable service among all major electric cooperatives and distribution utilities (ECDUs), with outages suffered by the average consumer totaling to mere minutes in an entire year, versus days or weeks worth of blackouts for other neighboring ECDUs,鈥 Mr. Salceda added.
He said that under a scenario where all ECDUs functioned comparably to Meralco, it could potentially lead to an annual increase of P201 billion in gross value added to the economy, attributed to the avoidance of outages.
PARTNERSHIP
Meanwhile, Meralco said it has teamed up with the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Philippines, Inc. (JCCIPI) to promote sustainable, innovative and energy efficient solutions in the energy sector.
鈥淢eralco can provide expertise in the energy sector while JCCIPI can contribute technological advancement and investment. This collaboration can result in sustainable energy solutions,鈥 Bernice Gretchel P. Garcia-Rama, Meralco鈥檚 head of enterprise-commercial and conglomerates, said in a statement on Monday.
For his part, JCCIPI Vice-President Nobuo Fujii said: 鈥淭hrough this partnership, we aim to harness the power of innovative technology from Japanese companies, coupled with Meralco鈥檚 expertise in the energy sector, to drive forward sustainable solutions in the Philippines.鈥
JCCIPI is a private and nonprofit organization consisting of Japanese or Japanese-related companies and organizations in the Philippines.
Meralco鈥檚 controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT Inc.
Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in 大象传媒 through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. 鈥 Sheldeen Joy Talavera
