Bathroom fixture firm getting geothermal power from EDC

Bathroom fixtures firm Hocheng Philippines Corporation, better known as HCG, said it will be sourcing geothermal power from Energy Development Corporation (EDC).

EDC said HCG will be getting its supply from the Lopezes’ 140-megawatt Bacon-Manito (BacMan) geothermal facility in Albay. The deal is covered under the government’s Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) program.

HCG said it chose to partner with EDC to power its operations as part of its sustainability program.

“As a company whose ultimate goal is to pursue excellence in LEED-compliant products, we build better designs to reduce our overall impact on the environment and to support government projects towards sustainable development,” HCG SVP and OIC Eugene Lin said in a statement.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the world’s most widely used green building rating system. According to the US Green Building Council, “LEED provides a framework for healthy, highly efficient, and cost-saving green buildings.”

Under RCOA, contestable customers like HCG can directly contract with a retail electricity supplier (RES) for the volume, rate, and package of services that it prefers. RCOA intends to lower electricity prices by introducing competition among various players.

Based on the RCOA timeline, contestable customers consuming at least 500 kilowatts (kW) monthly may already choose their own electricity supplier. The threshold would then be lowered to 100kW by January 2022 and to 10kW by January 2023.

BacMan Geothermal, Inc., the EDC RES that will provide power to HCG, is also a participant in the Department of Energy’s Green Energy Option Program.