Tuesday, July 01, 2008 Veco buys P172M Transco assets
THE Visayan Electric Co. Inc. (Veco), the biggest power distribution company in the Southern Philippines, has just acquired P172 million worth of sub-transmission assets from the National Transmission Corp. (Transco).
Veco president Dennis N.A. Garcia and Transco President Arthur Aguilar signed the deed of absolute sale at the Transco headquarters on June 24, 2008.
The sub-transmission assets covered in the contract to sell/purchase involves 5.93 circuit kilometers, 33 line structures and two 100-MVA transformers in Banilad, the Banilad-Canduman, Mandaue and the Busay-Malubog 69-kilovolt lines in Cebu.
The purchase contract was entered into in January, 2005. The application for approval of the said contract was submitted to the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) in April, 2005. ERC approved the application in April this year.
The sale is one of the biggest cash deals since Transco’s sub-transmission asset divestment program started in 2004, Aguilar said.
The Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) mandates the divestment of sub-transmission assets to qualified distribution utilities.
During the signing, Garcia expressed full support to Transco’s sub-transmission asset divestment program.
“Veco is committed to purchase the other sub-transmission assets in its franchise area,” he said. He added that Veco looks forward to a continued partnership with Transco in facing the new challenges in the power industry, and to provide better and more affordable service to customers.
Veco serves more than 280,000 customers in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue, Talisay and Naga and the municipalities of Consolacion, Liloan, Naga and San Fernando in Cebu. It is owned and managed by the Garcia and Aboitiz families of Cebu. (PR)
