Double victory for MORE Power

THERE’S more than meets the eye to the recognition awarded to MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) as “Apex Company of the Year” at the 17th Asia CEO Awards 2026 held at the Manila Marriott Hotel on October 13.

On the same occasion, MORE Power President/CEO Roel Z. Castro bagged the “CEO of the Year” award.

Broadcaster Nony Basco and I were lucky to have interviewed Castro live on the talk show “Reklamo Publiko” for YouTube, Facebook, Radyo Mercado and various stations of Todo Radyo.

How does MORE Power maintain its reputation as the most affordable distribution utility in Western Visayas amid the rising costs of power generation and transmission that are embedded in its bill?

“We rely mostly on long-term bilateral contracts with power generators,” he said to explain why this shields a large portion of its supply from volatile price spikes in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

At the time of the interview, the company’s rates were PHP14.42 per kWh and PHP13.55 per kWh for residential and commercial customers, respectively.

On the other hand, ILECO 1 (Iloilo 1 Electric Cooperative, Inc.) charges a residential rate of PHP 15.77.

“Now that the three major power plants in the Visayas have recovered from breakdowns and maintenance work,” we asked Sir Roel, “do you expect smooth operation from now on?”

“The power plants are as old as 10 to 12 years,” he lamented.

It’s unfortunate from the consumers’ standpoint that, contrary to the old perception, distribution utilities (DUs) like MORE Power and ILECO are basically not allowed by Republic Act No. 9136 or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001 to generate electricity.

However, DUs may be allowed to run their own plants, but capped at a limited percentage.

Why don’t power-plant investors build more coal-fired power plants?

“It would take time,” Sir Roel said, recalling the 36 months it took Palm Concepcion Power Corp. (PCPC) – of which he was the first president/CEO — to construct its 135-megawatt coal-fired power plant in Concepcion, Iloilo.

We echoed the cellphone query of our friend, Dr. Reynaldo “Bong” Gustilo, on whether the two bunker-fired power barges that MORE Power had acquired from Aboitiz Power Corp. could serve that contingency.

“Makakatulong,” Castro said, “but they may only generate 80 megawatts.”

And as previously reported in Daily Guardian the barges would primarily provide ancillary services either to the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) or the spot market,

This made us wonder whether EPIRA should have been amended to allow DUs to generate alternative energy.

On the contrary, in 2023, former ACT Teachers Party-list Congresswoman France Castro (no relation to MORE Power head) had filed House Bill No. 8079, seeking to prohibit power DUs from “cross-ownership” or owning or holding stakes in power generation companies. She argued that cross-ownership creates conflicts of interest and anti-competitive practice.

Her bill failed to pass.

The male Castro countered that the EPIRA law actually allows cross-ownership up to a maximum cap of 50% as long as it undergoes a competitive selection process (CSP).

The CSP refers to the mandatory transparent bidding mechanism that distribution utilities (DUs) use to procure power supply agreements for their captive markets.

Asked to comment on Energy Secretary Sharon Garin’s fear that power costs might continue to rise, he wished not, but cited the law of supply and demand.

“When you go to the market to buy gulay,” he quipped,” prices rise or fall in accordance with supply.”

Incidentally, I bought a bundle of camote tops at a public market yesterday. It cost me only ten pesos.