More Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) is heavily investing in the modernization of Iloilo City distribution system with additional funding of Php 1.1 billion.
MORE Power President and Chief Operating Officer Roel Z. Castro announced that the approval of the additional funding for 2022-2025 brings the company’s total investment to P3 billion.
The power firm has initially invested an emergency capital expenditures of Php 1.9 billion when it started its operations in 2020.
MORE Power spent the initial funding on the rehabilitation of the dilapidated facilities that were inherited from previous distribution utility, and the improvement of its customer service. These include the reconditioning and rehabilitation of power transformers of the five substations, replacement of dilapidated posts and electrical wires, additional distribution transformers, and replacement of damaged electric meters.
To lessen the power load of the Mandurriao substation, MORE Power acquired and installed a 10 mega-volt ampere (MVA) mobile substation within the Megaworld property. The power utility also added automatic circuit reclosers (ACRs) and other protection system in the electricity distribution network.
These improvements have resulted to lower incidence of unscheduled power interruptions and faster restoration during outages.
One of the major infrastructures put up by MORE Power is the switching station in Banuyao, Lapaz which connected its facilities to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP). The move resulted in lower electricity rates as it enables the company to source a much cheaper supply from power generators and the spot market.
MORE Power has intensified its “Oplan Valeria” anti-pilferage campaign, prompting those with electricity theft to apply for legal connections. The efforts resulted in a lower system loss of only 7.8%, from as high as 28%. Also, the number of legitimate consumers increased from 64,000 to over 86,000 in their two years of operation.
Castro said that the additional Php 1.1 billion pesos will be earmarked for more modernization efforts in the next three years.
The distribution utility plans to put up three more substations to prepare for the increasing power demand of the metropolis. These will be installed in Megaworld and Arevalo areas, and the third one will be a mobile substation which will be used during repairs and rehabilitation of existing substations.
MORE Power will also shift to a loop distribution system by connecting all substations and feeders, with Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems for digital monitoring of the entire facility.
These modernization efforts will make MORE Power’s distribution system more reliable, stable, and efficient, which will encourage investments that spur progress in Iloilo City.
