THIS WOULD BE really good news for electric consumers who have gone insane over monthly bill shocks from the Manila Electric Company (Meralco).
In what looks more like a serious threat to the Meralco monopoly, energy supplier EvoEnergi called on consumers to form clusters and avail of a scheme that would effectively translate to cheaper electricity cost.
How? By grouping themselves until they consume a combined electricity of 100 kilowatts, from the previous 500 KW of the Energy Regulatory Commission in its Retail Compensation and Open Access (RCOA) framework.
EvoEnergi on Tuesday said it has switched on power to the first two retail aggregation groups, namely nine households in Barangay Blue Ridge A in Quezon City and 13 households in Barangay Greenhills in San Juan City.
This is part of the government’s move to lower the required power consumption in the customer choice program, which has been gaining traction, with two residential groups switching to their preferred electricity supplier. Though understandably these are elite subdivisions.
Under the revised rule, smaller end-users can pool their electricity demand to meet the minimum requirement and freely choose their power supplier.
EvoEnergi, owned by the Lao Group of Companies and an affiliate of the publicly listed D&L Industries Inc., said it is forming additional residential aggregation groups in Metro Manila as more customers learn about the RCOA framework.
“This is more than a market milestone; it is a major leap forward in achieving the core objectives of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act,” the Inquirer quoted EvoEnergi president Julian Lao saying.
“For many years, households have viewed electricity as a fixed expense with limited alternatives. Through the ERC’s retail aggregation program, the collective demand of residents creates stronger purchasing power, unlocking customized energy solutions that would otherwise be out of reach for individual households.”
EvoEnergi, an electricity retail supplier, said on Tuesday the successful shift took effect last June 26, the first day that ERC lowered the threshold to 100 kilowatts (kW) from 500 kW under the retail competition and open access (RCOA) program.
RCOA allows participants consuming at least 100 kW a month to buy cheaper electricity from retailers other than the existing suppliers in their area. This could include commercial establishments, schools, hospitals, office buildings, hotels, and manufacturing facilities, among others.
The retail aggregation program, meanwhile, allows households and smaller consumers that share a common area to consolidate their demand to meet the threshold.
This signals the expansion of the competitive retail electricity market to accommodate not just big corporations, but also smaller consumers.
“This is more than a market milestone; it is a major leap forward in achieving the core objectives of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act,” Julian Lao, president of EvoEnergi, said.
“For many years, households have viewed electricity as a fixed expense with limited alternatives. Through the ERC’s retail aggregation program, the collective demand of residents creates stronger purchasing power, unlocking customized energy solutions that would otherwise be out of reach for individual households,” he added.
EvoEnergi said it is “actively” seeking additional residential retail aggregation groups in the capital region.
For this, the company said it was working closely with homeowners, community leaders, power distributor Meralco, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, and the ERC for a seamless transition.