POWER producer Global Business Power Corp. (GBP) has remitted P23.3 million of funds to its host community in Toledo, Cebu, to help in boosting the local government’s response to the global health emergency, the firm said in a press release on Monday.
The fund transfer is part of GBP’s mandate under the government’s Energy Regulations 1-94 (ER 1-94) to share its electricity sales with Toledo City, where its 246-megawatt (MW) clean coal-run power plant and 40-MW fuel oil facility are located.
According to the ER 1-94 program, host communities will receive one-centavo for every kilowatt-hour (P0.01/kWh) of the total sales of generating companies to finance electrification, livelihood and development projects in the area.
The company’s most recent contribution to Toledo City represents profits from GBP’s subsidiaries, Cebu Energy Development Corp. (CEDC) and Toledo Power Co. (TPC).
Earlier in April, the Energy department allowed for the ER 1-94 funds to be used to help local government’s in responding to the global health emergency.
“We, at GBP, are committed partners of our communities in battling the COVID-19 health crisis and its adverse consequences. Through this assistance to the City of Toledo, we are hoping to help our kababayans in rising above this challenging time,” Leah G. Diaz, GBP head of its Cebu site, said in a statement.
GBP is a joint venture among Beacon PowerGen Holdings, Inc. (56%), JG Summit Holdings, Inc. (30%), and Meralco PowerGen Corp. (14%), a wholly owned subsidiary of Manila Electric Co. (Meralco). It has five energy facilities in Visayas and Mindoro.
Meralco’s controlling stakeholder, Beacon Electric Asset Holdings, Inc., is partly owned by PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc., a unit of PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund subsidiary MediaQuest Holdings, Inc., has interest in BusinessWorld through the Philippine Star Group, which it controls. — Angelica Y. Yang
