ILOILO CITY – The city now has a stable power grid and substantial excess capacity to fuel growth.
MORE Electric and Power Corporation (MORE Power) president and chief executive officer Roel Castro made the assurance during the recent membership meeting of the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP) in Iloilo City, according to a news release on Monday.
“We came in in 2020, and our growth in electricity demand has been increasing,” Castro said.
In five years, the utility nearly doubled its customer base, from 62,000 accounts in 2020 to approximately 115,000 today.
Castro acknowledged that the company inherited a system that was "a bit behind," forcing an aggressive five-year investment program in critical assets like substations.
"After this year, we will be ahead of the curve. This means that Iloilo's electricity or power infrastructure will already be above the curve, which means that Iloilo will be ready for investment. We would be confident and not be afraid of any investment that would come, and that would require power," he said.
In his presentation, he said that system loss -- a critical metric for utility performance and cost efficiency -- has been slashed from a high of 30 percent to 4.75 percent.
Further, the frequency of power interruptions has reduced to less than two incidents from 18 times five years ago, providing businesses with the reliability required for modern operations.
These upgrades are supported by a fully operational Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition system across the franchise area, which enables real-time grid monitoring and control.
The utility is also poised to enter the next phase of modernization with the rollout of automated metering.
The Management Association of the Philippines is composed of top and senior executives from a broad cross-section of the largest companies in the country.
Its membership meetings, which feature key government and private sector leaders, serve as a platform for discourse on critical national issues and economic development, making it an ideal audience for a message on Iloilo’s investment readiness.
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