The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said Tuesday the system-wide average electricity prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) soared to P7.85 per kilowatt-hour as of May 19, up nearly P1 from P6.90 per kWh in April.
IEMOP said in its monthly presentation of operational highlights that average power demand also increased in May to 15,651 megawatts from 14,376 MW in April amid the continuing high temperature.
Power supply margins in May eased to 2,966 MW from 3,677 MW in April as a result of the outage of power plants resulting in red and yellow alerts in the Luzon grid.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the grid on yellow alert on Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m, and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. as three plants were on forced outage since 2023, four between January and March 2024 and 11 between April and May 2024. Six plants were also running on lower capacities for a total of 2,075.8-MW unavailable capacity to the grid.
NGCP also placed the Visayas grid on yellow alert from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
IEMOP expressed optimism that WESM prices would soften as the country enters the rainy season.
“As we transition to the wet season, the heat, the temperature we’re experiencing will gradually lower down. And with that, the consumption will be lower. So, lower demand for the coming months,” IEMOP corporate planning and communications manager Arjon Valencia said.
The agency expects power supply to improve during the rainy season with the contribution from hydro power plants.
IEMOP said average electricity prices for Luzon went up to P7.88 per kWh, an increase of P1.25 per kWh from P6.63 per kWh in April.
Average electricity prices in Mindanao also increased to P6.98 per kWh from P6.43 per kWh last month amid lower power supply and increased demand.
Mindanao’s available supply declined to 3,218 MW in May from 3,551 MW in April, while demand increased to 2,140 MW from 2,063 MW.
Luzon’s demand climbed to 11,348 MW in May from 10,310 MW as power supply margins also fell to 1,428 MW from 1,733 MW.
The average price in the Visayas grid declined to P8.43 per kWh from P8.73 per kWh with the increased import of supply from the Luzon and Visayas grids.
Available supply in the Visayas reached 2,425 MW, up from 2,349 MW in April while demand also increased to 2,162 MW from 2,002 MW.
