Energy Collective joint ceremonial signing. The latest entrants to the competitive retail electricity market, joined by AdventEnergy AVP for Business Development & Growth Strategy Jonathan Cruz (leftmost), VP for Retail Energy Sales and Services Catherine Del Villar-Pasilaban (2nd from right), and AVP for Strategic Account Management Elzer Tomas (rightmost) during the event.
Makati, Philippines – AdventEnergy, the retail electricity supply arm of Aboitiz Power Corporation (AboitizPower), onboarded new mid-sized Filipino businesses to the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) program after the threshold was lowered to 100 kilowatts of average monthly peak demand.
“It took more than a decade to get here,” explained AdventEnergy Vice President for Retail Energy Sales and Services Catherine Del Villar-Pasilaban. “In 2013, when retail competition began, only end-users with a peak demand of one megawatt could take part in customer choice programs.”
“Choosing a retail electricity supplier for the first time is not a small decision. It means asking new questions, looking at your operations in a new way, and trusting a new partner with something your business cannot run without.”
A ceremonial signing and thanksgiving event hosted by AdventEnergy saw medium-sized enterprises from the printing, real estate, packaging, retail, and hospitality industries across the Philippines join the expanded market.
This includes five facilities of non-profit educational institution Arriesgado College Foundation Inc., which will be supplied with 301 kilowatts, as well as the flagship branch of bookstore chain operator Belagua Corporation (Fully Booked) in Bonifacio Global City, Taguig, which will be supplied with 261 kilowatts.
“Power is the one chapter we never want anyone to notice, and choosing our own partner allows us to write this journey ourselves ensuring a better experience for our patrons,” said Belagua Corporation (Fully Booked) Director for Special Projects Javier Daez.
“For a school, a peso saved on power is a peso that goes back to a student,” shared Arriesgado College Foundation, Inc. School President Vincent Arriesgado. “We did not switch just to lower a bill. We switched to putting that money where it counts – our classrooms, teachers, and learners.”
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) lowered the eligibility threshold from 500 kilowatts to 100 kilowatts, effective June 26, 2026. ERC eyes full retail power implementation in its five-year roadmap, reflected in its October 23 notice. The plan is “a deliberate, 16 readiness-gated descent from 100 kilowatts to full retail competition by 2031.”
Further, according to the ERC, more than 2,300 customers had already switched by the time the 100-kilowatts rule was adopted, and the most recent market expansion brings an estimated 12,000 more end-users within reach of retail electricity suppliers.
AdventEnergy’s most recent signing in the 100-kilowatt bracket is Breadwinners Foods Corporation, the company behind neighborhood bakery brand Cocopan.
To date, the company supplies more than 1,000 facilities nationwide, from large industrial operations to the growing 100 to 499 kilowatt segment, with the Aboitiz Group holding a 26% market share across the competitive retail electricity market (CREM), as of the July 2026 CREM narrative report.
