Seventy-two (72) business establishments enrolled under the Interruptible Load Program (ILP) have been instrumental in ensuring the continuous supply of electricity in the franchise area of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) when the Luzon grid was placed on red alert recently.
Meralco immediately activated the ILP and called on enrolled customers to temporarily de-load when the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) warned that power interruptions were imminent due to insufficient operating reserves last Sept. 12.
Responding to the call were Meralco big-load customers, which used their own back-up power and collectively de-loaded close to 298 megawatts (MW) from the grid.
These customers include properties owned by the SM Group, Waltermart, Ayala Land, Belle Corporation, and Citystate Centre Condo Corporation.
Through their help, no Manual Load Dropping was implemented, effectively sparing other Meralco customers from experiencing rotating brownouts.
With commercial and industrial segments accounting for a huge part of Meralco’s customer base, cooperation and support of customers with at least 1-MW power demand are crucial to the success of the ILP.
“As of Sep. 2022, we have about 582 MW from 121 companies enrolled in the ILP. We continue to call on more participants, and to those who are not yet eligible—to exercise prudence in the usage of electricity,” said Engr. Ma. Cecilia M. Domingo, Meralco Vice President and Head of Enterprise and National Government.
Pre-enrolled customers who go temporarily off the grid are entitled to fuel compensation covering the hours when the red alert was raised, in accordance with a formula approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).
Meralco proactively encourages more businesses to join the demand-side management program.
“We recognize the value of our partnership with the ILP participants, which really helped us in ensuring that there will be continuous, stable and reliable electricity service, consistent with our commitment to keep the lights on for our customers,” Meralco Vice President and Head of Corporate Communications Joe R. Zaldarriaga said.
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