Therma Mobile Inc. (TMO) Did Not Violate PEMC's Must-Offer Rule

Therma Mobile Inc. (TMO) insists it followed the rules and delivered all its available capacity to its customer Meralco, contrary to the recent findings of the Philippine Electricity Market Corp (PEMC).

According to the AboitizPower subsidiary, the power plant offered and delivered its entire available and dispatchable load to its customer, Meralco, during the power shortages of November to December 2013.

TMO took over the four (4) barge-mounted bunker-fired power-generating facilities in Navotas, Manila in May, 2011. The power plant engines and its 115kv transmission facilities have not been operating for at least five years and needed rehabilitation.

Despite ongoing rehabilitation of the engines and transmission lines, TMO was still able to “safely, reliably and consistently” supply 100 MW to Meralco in the November to December 2013 supply months.

“Although our rated capacity is 234 MW (net), we could not export as much because of the condition of our engines and the limitation of the 115kv transmission line,” TMO president and COO Jovy P. Batiquin said.

Forcing the engines and the 115kv line to produce and deliver more than 100 MW at that time could cause a collapse of the line and could trigger a much-bigger problem for the Luzon grid, he added.

This temporary limitation of the power plant was confirmed during a dependable capacity test conducted in November 21, 2013 and in subsequent tests.

TMO is currently studying its legal options with respect to PEMC’s decision in order to clear its name.

“We are very concerned that the decision of PEMC’s investigating unit did not consider the realities that TMO faced to deliver the much needed 100MW for its customer, Meralco.

” Batiquin said.