MVP steadies power capex despite Middle East turmoil
Tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan is sticking to the allotted capital expenditures (capex) for his electricity business, which enjoyed at least P100 billion in investment last year, despite challenging market conditions brought by the Iran war.
Pangilinan, who chairs power giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), said there was already an approved investment for the company in 2026. However, he did not provide figures.
Amid the escalation of the Middle East conflict, Pangilinan said he directed major companies within his group to review and possibly adjust their capex “because part of the great uncertainty is when this Iran thing will finish.”
“But I doubt whether we will reduce it for Meralco and MGEN (Meralco PowerGen Corp.),” he told reporters on Tuesday.
The Meralco group, through MGEN, has been scaling up its presence in the power generation arena.
Last year, the consolidated capex for the group hit P108.9 billion. Of this, 73 percent of the investment boosted MGEN’s solar power portfolio.
MGEN is in charge of building the world’s biggest solar facility yet, dubbed MTerra Solar. Over the weekend, a portion of the solar park began injecting power into the grid network.
Once fully up and running, the solar park would generate at a peak of 3,500 megawatts. This is complemented by a 4,500 megawatt-hour battery energy storage system.
Besides solar, MGEN is also in thermal, liquefied natural gas power plants. It is also actively exploring nuclear energy.
Meralco’s distribution unit, on the other hand, had P28.5 billion in 2025. About P17.5 billion of this helped finance new connections, asset renewals, load growth and pole relocation works.
The distribution giant delivers power to Metro Manila, Bulacan, Cavite, Rizal and selected areas in Pampanga, Laguna, Batangas and Quezon.
