A lineman works on an electric post at the Katuparan housing project in Vitas, Tondo Manila on July 7, 2021. George Calvelo, ABS-CBN News 

MANILA - Meralco is looking to put its power cables underground in the next five years to avoid worsening urban blight in its franchise area.

During a Senate hearing on its legislative franchise, Meralco Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Aperocho said the utility is planning to bring down and put the cables underground.

"Sa budget namin for 5 years, kasama na po sa malaking capex [capital expenditure] para ho sa pagpapababa ng linya namin from overhead to underground. Di lang ho ito para ma-address ang spaghetti wires kundi para rin ho sa storm-hardening at storm resiliency," said Aperocho.

(Our 5-year budget includes capex for bringing out lines from overhead to underground. This is meant not just to address the issue of 'spaghetti wires' but also for storm hardening and storm resiliency.)

However, the plan needs the approval of the Energy Regulatory Commission as it entails a huge capital outlay which is recoverable from consumers. ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta meanwhile said big-ticket items like this need to be studied if they are reasonable.

SYSTEM LOSS CHARGED TO CONSUMERS

Senator Raffy Tulfo, chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Services, has also brought up the issue of charging consumers with a portion of the system loss--particularly electricity stolen by consumers using jumpers.

Tulfo said he filed a bill to amend the EPIRA law in order to remove the authority to charge a portion of the stolen power to all regularly paying consumers.

Meralco said its system loss is low but admitted that there are still illegal connections. The company said it has already caught around 600,000 violators since 2005, and accumulated a total of 8,300 tons or 276,000 km of illegal wires, heavier than 2,600 SUVs.

Meralco says it is already running out of storage area.

ERC PENALIZES NGCP

Meanwhile, the ERC has penalized the National Grid Corporation P12.3 million for delays in 27 of its projects.

This follows an earlier ERC ruling also penalizing NGCP more than P3 million for a separate delay in the implementation of 10 projects.

Dimalanta said while the penalty is indeed small, it's the principle that the government can make sure that projects of national significance are not delayed.