Meralco proceeding with 1,000-MW bid

MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) will proceed with the bidding process for its 1,000-megawatt (MW) power supply requirement after the dismissal of an injunction petition, the power distributor said on Tuesday.

The Taguig Regional Trial Court (RTC) dismissed the petition and deemed the 20-day temporary restraining order (TRO) as “without force and effect,” Meralco said in a statement.

“This allows us to continue our efforts to secure our power supply requirements in the least-cost manner, consistent with our mandate,” the power distributor said.

“We will now resume the bidding procedures for both 600 MW and 400 MW…, for which new bid bulletins will be issued, particularly with respect to the timelines,” it added.

Last month, the Taguig RTC issued a TRO stopping Meralco from proceeding with its bidding processes for additional power supply of 600 MW and 400 MW.

Members of the Malampaya consortium — Prime Energy Resources Development B.V., Prime Oil & Gas, Inc., UC38 LLC, and PNOC Exploration Corp. — sought the restraining order, saying the bid terms violate the preference given to indigenous natural gas under the law.

“There exists an extreme urgent necessity for the writ as to warrant the issuance of a temporary restraining order to prevent further damages to the plaintiffs’ interests, the government, and the environment,” according to an order promulgated on July 31.

The TRO was extended to 20 days from three days.

“The court finds merit in the urgent motion to dismiss the complaint for injunction of plaintiffs,” the order dated Aug. 17 read.

“Relative thereto, the temporary restraining order the court issued on August 2, 2024, is hereby rendered without force and effect,” it added.

Meralco said that all competitive selection processes (CSPs) for its supply requirements “are strictly conducted in accordance with existing rules of the Department of Energy and the Energy Regulatory Commission, which have the primary jurisdiction over the CSPs.”

In June, Meralco invited bids for contract capacities of 600-MW baseload and 400-MW mid-merit supply, which are set to take effect in August 2025.

Eight companies expressed interest and participated in the pre-bid conference last month for Meralco’s 600-MW supply.

These are First Gas Power Corp. and First NatGas Power Corp. of First Gen Corp.; Mariveles Power Generation Corp. and Masinloc Power Co. Ltd. of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp.; GNPower Dinginin Ltd. Co. and Therma Luzon, Inc. of Aboitiz Power Corp.; Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corp. of Semirara Mining and Power Corp.; and Quezon Power (Philippines) Ltd Co.

The distribution utility moved the bid submission deadline from Aug. 2 to Aug. 27. It has yet to issue the updated schedule for the bidding process for the 400-MW capacity.

Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc.

Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has an interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera