DMCI Power spending P160 million for Masbate, Palawan gensets

MANILA, Philippines — DMCI Power Corp. (DPC), the off-grid power producer of the Consunji Group, is earmarking P160 million to purchase seven diesel generating sets as it expects increased demand in Masbate and Palawan.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, DMCI Power said the additional gensets would have a total capacity of 11.2 megawatts (MW).

This raises the company’s generation capacity in the two missionary areas to 90 MW, a 14 percent improvement from last year.

“We are expecting a significant increase in power demand in our host provinces this year. We want to ensure that DPC will have reliable power generators to supply our consumers with continuous, sufficient and dependable electricity,” DPC president Nestor Dadivas said.

In 2017, total energy sales of DPC increased four percent from 237.85 gigawatt-hours (gwh) to 247.06 gwh, with growth coming mostly from Masbate and Palawan.

However, the company’s net income declined 15 percent from P424 million to P359 million, primarily due to the expiration of its income tax holiday for its Masbate operations.

DPC was established in 2006 to provide sufficient and reliable electricity to areas that are not connected to the main transmission grid.

A wholly owned unit of DMCI Holdings Inc., it operates and maintains bunker-fired power plants and diesel generating sets in parts of Masbate, Oriental Mindoro, Palawan and Sultan Kudarat.

From 2010 to 2016, DPC has invested P3.5 billion worth of power projects in missionary areas, covering four small-scale diesel and bunker-fired facilities in Masbate (July 2010), Palawan (December 2012), Oriental Mindoro (2016) and Sultan Kudarat (2016).