Aboitiz Power to bid for Olongapo utility

Aboitiz Power Corp. is pushing through with plans to bid for the Olongapo public utilities department, which will be auctioned next week.

The listed firm said bidding for the Olongapo public utilities department is a part of its expansion plans. "The move is part of the company’s continued expansion of its [power] distribution business," Aboitiz Power vice-president for energy Luis Miguel O. Aboitiz told reporters.

The bidding, which was supposed to take place last month, has been rescheduled to June 9.

The Olongapo public utilities department operates and maintains the electric, light and power systems of Olongapo City. In 2008, it sold 139 gigawatt-hours of electricity to 41,000 customers. Its average peak demand in 2008 stood at 28.6 megawatts (MW).

Aboitiz Power operates electric distribution utilities Visayan Electric Co., Inc., Davao Light and Power Corp., Cotabato Light and Power Corp., Subic Enerzone Corp., Mactan Enerzone Corp., and San Fernando Electric Light and Power Co., Inc.

Visayan Electric and Davao Light are part of the third group of private distribution utilities expected to implement a performance-based rate scheme, which provides incentives and penalties for performing and non-performing utilities. San Fernando Electric and Subic Enerzone are part of the fourth batch of utilities scheduled to implement the performance-based rate scheme.

Aboitiz Power earned P7 billion in profits in the first quarter, up by 1,334% year-on-year.

Last year, Aboitiz Power bagged the Tiwi-Makban geothermal plants, two 100-MW bunker-fired power barges, and the Independent Power Producer Administrator contract for the 700-MW Pagbilao coal-fired plant. bworldonline.com