Tuesday, May 10, 2022
ERC allows Meralco to relocate electrical facilities affected by government project
By Danessa Rivera (The Philippine Star)
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has cleared Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) to relocate its electrical facilities affected by government projects worth P9.97 billion.
The cost of relocating the facilities shall be shouldered by the Department of Transportation (DOTr) so it will not be recovered under the account of Meralco, the power regulator said.
In its decision, the ERC has approved Meralco’s various contingency capital projects to relocate electric facilities affected by DOTr projects.
Meralco said some of its existing electrical sub-transmission and distribution facilities such as wires, transformers, and poles in Metro Manila, Bulacan, and parts of Batangas, Laguna, Pampanga, and Quezon will be affected by government projects under the Build Build Build (BBB) program.
These projects include the Common Station project, the Phase 1 of the Metro Manila Subway Project, the North-South Commuter Railway System composed of PNR North 1 (Tutuban-Malolos), PNR North 2 (Malolos-Clark), and PNR South Commuter (Solis-Calamba), and the PNR South Long Haul (Manila-Sorsogon, Batangas).
Specifically, the projects will affect 154 distribution circuits and 18 sub-transmission circuits, which have a total conductor length of 47,520 meters and 717,290 meters, respectively.
The DOTr projects will also initially displace 10,732 electric poles, which could change pending the projects’ completion.
In terms of cost, the reallocation design cost for PNR North 1 amounts to P1.44 billion, P310.32 million for PNR North 2, P2.05 billion for PNR South Commuter, P5.11 billion for PNR South Long Haul, P1 billion for Metro Manila Subway project, and P55.36 million for the Common Station project.
Meralco needs to relocate the affected facilities to allow the construction work for DOTr projects to proceed.
It will install permanent poles and electrical facilities in the rights-of-way (ROW) to be provided by the Philippine National Railways (PNR).
The ERC, however, denied Meralco’s application to implement the expansion projects it can implement alongside the relocation of affected facilities worth P4.24 billion.
Broken down per project, Meralco proposed to implement capital expenditure (CAPEX) projects P660.22 million for PNR North 1, P152.95 million for PNR North 2, P910.08 million for PNR South Commuter, and P2.52 billion for PNR South Long Haul.
These projects, as Meralco applied for, will install distribution facilities to address reliability and load growth requirements.
Meralco said that due to the relocation of affected facilities, it may be constrained to retire some of the facilities before the end of their respective useful lives.
The ERC said it disapproved Meralco’s application to implement capex projects because of the absence of cost data and other details and directed the power distributor to re-file the capex projects.
“While the Commission recognizes the necessity of the project in order for the DOTr projects to be implemented, still, there are guidelines to be followed in the implementation of capex projects,” it said.