Cayetano calls for suspension of Meralco’s selection process for 600 MW baseload power – HERALD EXPRESS

Senator Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday called for a halt to the Manila Electric Company’s (Meralco) Competitive Selection Process (CSP) for a base load supply of 600 megawatts starting next year for fairness reasons.

Cayetano made this decision following discussions with Meralco representative Atty. Jose Ronald Valles during the Senate Energy Committee hearing on July 18, 2024. During the hearing, he noted that older plants, including the Malampaya gas field, were disqualified due to arbitrary conditions set by Meralco regarding the age of the plant.

“You don’t have to be an expert to see that Meralco is in trouble based on the terms of reference alone (which prevents first-generation power plants from bidding). What is Meralco in Malampaya, right?” he said, referring to the renewable energy company founded in December 1998 and run by the Lopez family.

Cayetano said even the Department of Energy (DOE) and the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) “had some questions about it.”

Cayetano argued that the unfair CSP and unfair treatment would deter foreign investors from participating in energy exploration and drilling in the country.

“Have you enabled foreign investors to research and explore energy?” he said.

Cayetano also criticized Meralco’s redefinition of the term “greenfield” because he believed it limited participation in the bidding process.

“The problem may be using the definition of ‘Greenfield.'” “Kaya lumalabas, it wasn’t that long ago that I had to make a bid,” the senator told Atty. Valles during the hearing.

At the hearing, the ERC clarified that the industry definition of “greenfield” refers to projects that “are not yet in existence, built and financed.”

Meralco, meanwhile, defined it as facilities that will be “operational as of January 2020.”

Given these concerns, Cayetano suggested that the DOE and ERC suspend the August 2, 2024 deadline for the actual bid submission to allow for further clarification of CSP rules and outstanding issues.

“I think the Department of Energy and the ERC should seriously consider stopping this. It would not take too much time to sort out all these rules and pending cases,” he urged the panel members.