Empowering customers with choice
Meralco breached the eight-millionth mark last October, ending 2024 with a customer count of 8.043 million. And as it continuously grows its reach and customer base, Meralco maintains top-notch service performance, underscoring the company’s operational resilience as it adapts to evolving energy demands and consumption patterns.
The average number of power interruptions per customer, measured by the System Average Interruption Frequency Index (SAIFI), has been steadily decreasing, reaching 1.041 times by the end of 2024 — an improvement from 1.194 times in 2023. Likewise, the System Average Interruption Duration Index (SAIDI), which tracks the average outage duration per customer, improved to 108.213 minutes from 123.708 minutes.
To better serve and empower its growing number of customers, Meralco has been proactively implementing initiatives to further enhance its physical and digital touchpoints with digital channels servicing more than 60 percent of the total customer transactions.
In support of customer choice programs, Meralco has been strengthening its grid infrastructure and metering capabilities through its Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) strategy that aligns with regulatory requirements and integrates smart metering solutions. Investments in back-end architecture further ensured the seamless implementation of retail aggregation program (RAP), which marked a significant milestone in February 2025 with the switching of the first retail aggregation customer.
Meralco also continuously upgrades its distribution facilities and conducts strategic sourcing activities to delivery sufficient, reliable and stable service at the least possible cost to customers.
In 2024, the company completed a total of 18 capital expenditure projects, of which four are Gas Insulated Switchgear (GIS) smart substations, with advanced features to enhance the efficiency, reliability and resilience of the power distribution network. This includes the Arcovia and Sampaloc GIS substations in the cities of Pasig and Manila, respectively, that were energized in the fourth quarter.
Other key projects that were completed during the quarter were the interconnection of the Maragondon solar plant in Cavite; the replacement of switchgears at the New Teresa Substation in Rizal, Urdaneta substation in Makati City, and Novaliches Substation in Quezon City; and replacement of power transformer bank at the Duhat substation in Bulacan.
For its pole relocation activities in support of government infrastructure projects, Meralco relocated 1, 235 poles to give way to Department of Public Works and Highways projects as well as 709 poles affected by the Build Better More Program.
In its relentless pursuit to keep up with the evolving requirements of its customers, Meralco laid down plans to undertake massive investments aimed at enhancing its distribution network, increasing resilience, advancing grid modernization and further improving operational efficiency and customer service.
The distribution utility proposed a P246-billion capital expenditure (capex) for the new 5th Regulatory Period (5RP) that covers the July 2025 to June 2029 period. This will be used for improvement, upgrading and storm-hardening programs for its distribution facilities. It also covers the implementation of underground cabling which aims to address the issue of spaghetti wires as well as reinforce its facilities amid natural disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes.
Meralco will also continue investing in advanced metering infrastructure and innovative projects to strengthen cybersecurity, empower customers and reduce service interruptions while enabling faster trouble restoration for improved customer experience.
“We will continue to meet growing electricity needs. With renewed congressional support, we will invest in projects to enhance our service and ensure a future-ready power distribution system. Our storm hardening initiatives will strengthen our network and expedite AMI deployment. Additionally, we are preparing to support increased use of distributed energy resources through network automation and advanced technology, while empowering customers with more options and control over their energy use,” Meralco executive vice president and chief operating officer Ronnie L. Aperocho said.
“As the nation gears up for the mid-term national and local elections this May, we are working closely with the Commission on Elections and Local Government Units within the franchise area to ramp up inspections, upgrading and maintenance activities towards ensuring a stable and reliable power supply. Similarly, we are closely monitoring the La Niña phenomenon, which is forecasted to persist and coincide with the start of the critical dry season,” Aperocho said.
