Electricity customers secured 23 percent of their requirements from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the highest exposure since December 2006.
Philippine Electricity Market Corp., operator of the WESM, said low rates resulted in increased customer confidence, with buyers getting an average of 6 percent to 7 percent of their requirements.
PEMC said mitigating measures in place that addressed price spikes such as lowering of price cap to P32 per kilowatt-hour from P62 per kWh and the imposition of secondary price cap mechanism resulted in an all-time low settlement spot prices at the WESM. Spot prices reached their lowest in January at P1.90 per kWh since January 2011.
Effective settlement spot prices refer to the average prices paid by wholesale customers for energy procured in the WESM.
PEMC president Melinda Ocampo said it was hard to predict if prices would continue to remain low for the rest of the year. She cited mitigating measures in the market that would lessen the impact of higher rates.
“This is actually a traders’ behavior, depending on demand and supply, but there are mitigating measures to avoid sudden spike,” Ocampo said.
PEMC has implemented market reforms and developments at the WESM, leading to transparency and competition in the electric power industry.
The WESM is a platform for electricity trading that provides the mechanism for the scheduling of generation and pricing of electricity. The reform ignited transformation in the Philippine electricity industry as transparency kicked in and changed the landscape that cultivated accountabilities to all industry players.
“The WESM has been an aid to the economic growth of the country and developments in the electric power industry. More than the competition, supply augmentation, investment simulation, and advancements that the WESM has contributed in nation-building, the WESM boasts years of integrity through transparency,” said Ocampo.
Ocampo said preparations for the imminent implementation of WESM in Mindanao were also under way with a series of public consultations conducted in the first quarter.