MANILA - Meralco is preparing for an expected reduction in power supply due to the scheduled maintenance of several power plants and the termination of its supply agreement with San Miguel.

The power distribution firm said it is looking at various options for sourcing supply as several plants are scheduled to be on maintenance shutdown starting in August and lasting until January next year.

“I think the last forecast of the Department of Energy is going to be yellow alert for August,” said Jose Ronald Valles, Meralco’s head of regulatory management.

Meralco said the termination of its 330MW power supply deal with San Miguel has added to its concerns.

“After we received that notice of termination, we immediately looked for a replacement capacity from different power suppliers. And we’ve written several power suppliers and most of them or all of them declined, only one responded,” Valles said.

This is meant to protect consumers against generally higher and more volatile power prices in the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM).

"We have not calculated how much that would be, the impact would be to consumers, if we get all replacement capacity from WESM.”

Meralco Chairman Manny Pangilinan meanwhile said the country needs more conventional power plants.

“We get excited about new technologies, simply because it’s new— nuclear, hydrogen, ammonia, everything under the sun… the reality is that’s not what this country needs. These are not fit solutions. All this country needs are very conventional solutions,” said Pangilinan.

Meralco said its consolidated core net income rose 47 percent to P19.2 billion, while reported net income grew 36 percent to P17.9 billion. Pangilinan said they expect profits to hit a "record" high for the full year.

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