Yet that's exactly what Meralco and the MVP Group apparently was able to do on April 26 and 27, 2016 just in time to beat the new April 30 deadline set by the ERC. They negotiated and signed seven (7) power supply contracts totaling 3,551mw that will corner 80% of Meralco's energy needs with several strategic partners but all controlled by its sister company MeralcoPowerGen. Corralled into becoming MeralcoPowerGen's working minority partners if they want access to the lucrative 6,500mw Meralco distribution market are erstwhile giant independent generators San Miguel Corp., Aboitiz Group, DMCI, Global Business of MetroBank, and EGAT of Thailand. The contracts effectively evaded the new Department of Energy policy to require a Competitive Selection Process or bidding (instead of negotiating) power supply contracts whose prices and terms will be passed on to the electric consumers.