Citicore supplies power to Toyota’s franchisee (Sabong News)

Citicore Renewable Energy Corporation (CREC) is expanding the niche of customers that it has been supplying electricity to – this time in the automotive industry for a franchisee of Toyota Motors in Cebu. CREC, which is the sponsor-firm of publicly listed Citicore Energy REIT Corporation (CREIT), noted that Toyota’s entry into its pool of customers enhances the diversification of end-user industries being catered to by the company. The power supply agreement with the Toyota franchisee was underwritten via CREC’s retail electricity supplier arm Citicore Energy Solutions Inc. (CESI) – and that was done under the policy precept of Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) in the restructured electric power industry. “CESI will supply renewable energy initially for a period of two (2) years to a franchisee of Toyota Motors in Cebu, using mostly solar energy generated from CREC’s solar plants,” Citicore emphasized. As conveyed by CREIT President and CEO Oliver Tan, “the pace at which renewable energy becomes so relevant among industry leaders and big energy consumers provides an excellent growth opportunity for the entire Citicore organization.” He qualified that in their company’s strategic stature as a highly integrated RE industry player, “we are in a unique position to take advantage of this surge, which we believe we are making significant inroads into.” By far, RE is the biggest game in town when it comes to capital inflows in the energy sector – and this is also a hot commodity as many corporate players gain traction on fulfilling their net-zero goals and decarbonization pathways. The other major contestable customers of CREC include Shell Energy Philippines, commercial establishments, logistics firms and it is also a provider of rooftop solar-generated power to locators at the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) economic zone. The addition of Toyota into its growing customer base, according to Tan, is a “vote of confidence associated with a top global brand,” and it is also reinforcing CREC’s standing as a globally accepted energy provider. Contestable customers are those end-users who can now directly negotiate for their power supply contracts – at a price that they prefer and for energy source of technology of their choice. For CREC as sponsor of their real estate investment trust or REIT-listed company, Tan indicated that such “lends legitimacy to CREIT as an attractive and sound investment alternative.” He further noted that the renewable energy shift of many corporates and businesses “will support CREC’s long-term sustainable growth as well as CREIT’s shareholder value creation.”