Daven Tamayo

Electricity spot market prices climb in March

Line men from an electrical contractor check electric meters at the Divisoria area in Manila on September 12, 2022.  The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines advised of possible power interruptions in Luzon on Monday  due to “forced outage” of 7 power plants and “derated capacities” of 3 more plants, which depleted the Luzon grid by 3,627 megawatts. 

 Jonathan Cellona, ABS-CBN News

Article (news)

Jessica Fenol

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — Average power prices sold at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in March rose to P4.31/kilowatt-hour, up 23 percent compared to the P3.50/kWh average the previous month, data from the Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) released on Wednesday showed.There is also a surge in Luzon&#x27;s average spot market price, despite the decrease in averages in Visayas and Mindanao, IEMOP said.The average power price for Luzon rose 52.5 percent to P4.10/kWh from P2.6/kWh in February.IEMOP data showed that in Visayas, average prices slightly declined to P5.08/kWh from P5.37/kwh, and in Mindanao, the average also decelerated to P4.43/kWh from P5.25/kWh.The IEMOP explained that this was due to several factors, such as increased demand as the hotter months approached and some maintenance activities that affected the distribution of power from plants, IEMOP Vice President for Market Operations Isidro Cacho said.&quot;Mababa yung price natin sa Luzon especially January, February and a little over March kasi definitely ang demand natin mababa, malamig... so when we came in nitong towards April ayan nakakita na tayo, second half ng March nakita na natin pag taas ng demand,&quot; Cacho said.&quot;Nagkaroon kasi ng maintenance ng major line natin that resulted to congestion sa Luzon, that congestion reflected required the dispatch, schedule ng mas mahal na planta, yung mas mura hindi makatawid,&quot; he added.The impact on power consumers will depend on where they are located as distribution companies and electric cooperatives source a certain percent of their supply from the spot market.<div> </div><div>MODIFIED PRICING</div>Meanwhile, the Energy Regulatory Commission said it has adopted a modified administered pricing mechanism for the WESM, which took effect last March 26 to help stabilize electricity rates and optimize supply, following the government&#x27;s declaration of the National Energy Emergency.Under the measure, the ERC said it has set a fixed administered price of P6,000 per megawatt-hour for coal-fired power plants while other sources are to follow existing pricing methodology.IEMOP said this move could &quot;avert&quot; price spikes especially during the hotter months when demand peaks.&quot;Sa projections natin umaabot ng P9, sa extreme scenario umabot pa ng P12... but we don&#x27;t see na maapply pa yung P9...Naavert yung tinatawag nating seasonal price spike and additional price increase brought about by the increase in fuel costs... &#x27;yan I think is a very good policy action from our regulators to stabilize prices,&quot; Cacho said.The ERC has also earlier ordered power distributors to notify the regulator of scheduled price spikes and to stagger increases to cushion the blow on consumers.

Average power prices sold at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market in March rose compared to the previous month.

Average power prices sold at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market in March rose compared to the previous month.