Meralco unit MPower ramps up support for K-12 education

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MPower, the local retail electricity supplier of the Manila Electric Company (Meralco), and its partners have poured in over P8 million for various education programs that benefitted some 3,000 kindergarten students in 19 schools in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

As part of its Back-to-School Donation Drive, MPower and One Meralco Foundation turned over school supplies to the teachers from Lagundi Elementary School in Plaridel, Bulacan.

In line with the resumption of face-to-face classes this year, MPower recently donated worth P875,000 of school supplies to seven beneficiary schools which include printers, hard drives, as well as hygiene products and antigen test kits.

Amid modular and blended learning during the height of the pandemic, 12 schools received P1.2 million worth of school items, including headphones and microphones to help teachers in their transition to online distance learning set-up.

The Back-to-School Donation Drive was an extension of MPower’s flagship Kinder Classroom Project which started in 2015 in support of the Department of Education’s (DepEd) requirement to have kindergarten included in a child’s formal schooling.

Since the inception of the Kindergarten Classroom Project, MPower already turned over nine kindergarten classrooms to beneficiary schools with the help of donations from partners worth around P6 million.

The beneficiary schools are Lagundi Elementary School in Plaridel, Bulacan; Malabon Elementary School in Malabon; San Antonio Elementary School in San Pedro, Laguna; Dela Paz Main Elementary School in Biñan, Laguna; and Halang Elementary School in Naic, Cavite.

One Meralco Foundation, the social development arm of Meralco, has been MPower’s principal partner in the procurement of items, facilitation of constructions of classroom and their turnover.

With OMF’s support, MPower continues to make a lasting impact to the lives of Filipino children by supporting quality education and nation-building.

In 2021, MPower received the 2021 Gold Award from Zuellig Pharma Corporation and the 2020 Outstanding Partner of DepEd City Schools Division of Biñan for its Kindergarten Classroom Project and back-to-school program initiatives.

MPower was also recognized by local governments of Plaridel, Bulacan and Malabon City for its innovative and integrated approach in support of public education.

ePLDT, MPower partner for its largest renewable energy supply in PH data centers

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(Manila, Philippines) ePLDT furthers its commitment to sustainability as it partners with MPower—the local retail electricity supply arm of Meralco—for its largest allocation of both contracted power and renewable energy supply that will sustain the group’s data centers in the country.

ePLDT’s collaboration with MPower was first announced during the launch of the Philippine Board of Investments’ Make It Happen in the Philippines Campaign where public and private institutions teamed up to promote the Philippines as the next hyperscaler destination in Southeast Asia and the Asia Pacific region.

The two companies aim to raise the digital and power infrastructure of the Philippines to the standards sought by global hyperscalers looking to expand their operations in the country. Through the partnership, MPower’s renewable energy supply will help decarbonize ePLDT’s VITRO data centers in line with the PLDT group’s sustainability roadmap and in support of the carbon neutrality commitments of hyperscaler companies.

Senior Vice President and Head Roberto Almazora said that sustainability is one of MPower’s top priorities, and in line with Meralco’s sustainability agenda, they target to provide a just, orderly and affordable transition towards renewable energy.

“We're in full support of the government’s aspiration to hit the 50-percent RE energy mix by 2040. We strongly agree, but we would like to ensure that there is an orderly and cost-efficient transition towards clean energy… As One Meralco, we're looking at securing about 1,500 megawatts or more from the RE space in the next five to seven years. We are also in support of the development of greenfield plants, in alignment with the national sustainability agenda to replace old and unsustainable energy sources.” said Almazora during the exclusive CEO Roundtable Discussion of PLDT Enterprise’s Philippine Digital Convention 2021.

ePLDT and MPower recently formalized their partnership in a virtual ceremony to progress ePLDT’s bid to source the power of its data center facilities from RE. Incorporating RE in the energy mix of ePLDT VITRO Data Centers is part of its strategic roadmap which involves putting sustainability at the core of its design and operations.

Jovy I. Hernandez, ePLDT President & CEO and SVP & Head of PLDT and Smart Enterprise and International Business Groups, said that ePLDT is firm in its move towards sustainability and reducing carbon emissions in its data centers through the use of clean energy.

“As the largest data center network service provider in the country, we recognize our crucial role in keeping our operations sustainable and the positive impact that this transformation will bring to the Philippines in general. This initiative is in line with the PLDT Group’s environmental, social, and governance (ESG) where sustainability is one of the key fulcrums,” Hernandez said.

“We are glad to formally establish this partnership with MPower as we pave the path to using renewable energy in our VITRO Data Centers. ePLDT recognizes the existing environmental emergency, and we thank MPower for their support as we work for this vision,” Hernandez added.

MPower will provide Renewable Energy for a significant portion of the total consumption for each of ePLDT’s VITRO data center, which is the largest RE supply they will provide to a commercial data center operator and will be sourced from MPower’s greenfield RE plants.

The RE transition is expected to reduce greenhouse and carbon emissions in the data centers by up to 20 percent—which translates to about 924,000 tree seedlings grown for 10 years according to the Greenhouse Gas Equivalencies Calculator of epa.gov.

The use of RE supply will initially be rolled out in six VITRO Data Centers, while the other four will later on advance as part of ePLDT’s sustainability workplan.

“Aside from providing superior network and infrastructure services, it is also important for us at PLDT Enterprise to operate our facilities efficiently and sustainably. Through the use of RE, we will be able to decarbonize our data centers and at the same time support the sustainability commitments of both local enterprises and the global hyperscaler market,” said Jojo Gendrano, First Vice President and Head of PLDT Enterprise Core Business Solutions.

MPower is the most trusted Retail Electricity Supplier in the Competitive Retail Electricity Market, holding a 30% market share nationwide. It offers customized energy solutions to meet the needs of Contestable Customers with an average demand of at least 500 kW for the past 12 months, resulting in significant cost savings.

Recently, the PLDT Group and Meralco subsidiaries namely MServ and Spectrum announced its collaboration for new energy efficiency and sustainability initiatives that promote responsible energy use and reduction of carbon footprint.

To learn more, visit epldt.com