MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) has acquired the remaining sub-transmission assets (STA) controlled by the government within its franchise area.
In a statement, the country’s largest power distribution utility said it signed a number of contracts for the acquisition of STAs with state-owned National Transmission Corp. (TransCo).
“The acquisition is in compliance with Resolution No. 15, Series of 2011 of the Energy Regulatory Commission, which set the deadline for the acquisition of residual STAs on or before December 31, 2011,” Meralco said. Among the STAs acquried by Meralco are the Dasma-Rosario 115 kilovolt line, Rosario Substation, Tayabas Substation, and Ternate Substation. The total cost for this batch of STAs amounts to approximately P381 million.
Meralco will also acquire other STAs through a separate joint venture with two other distribution
utilities, the Second Batangas Electric Cooperative (Batelec II) and First Bay Power Corp. (FBPC).
The consortia would be paying TransCo about P142 million for the STAs. “These contracts and agreements would be filed for approval before the ERC,” Meralco said.
Under Republic Act 9136 or Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, TransCo is mandated to sell its STAs to qualified distribution utilities and electric cooperatives. STAs are power lines typically rated at 69 kilovolts and 325 megavolt ampere transformers directly connected to utilities.
The sale of these assets would allow electricity distributors to control their operations while freeing the grid operator’s resources to improve the reliability and efficiency of the high-voltage transmission network.
STAs are part of the country’s power transmission system, which TransCo used to operate and maintain until it was privatized to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines in 2009.
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