The Average systemwide prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) surged by P1.50 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to P4.54 per kWh in October from P3.04 per kWh in September on lower supply margins, according to the market operator.
Data from the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), which operates the WESM, showed that available supply dropped 4 percent, or 823 megawatts (MW), between Sept. 26 and Oct. 25, 2025. This came despite an overall system demand increase of 1.8 percent during the period.
Total demand reached 13,881 MW from 13,640 MW, while supply stood at 19,889 MW, down from 20,712 MW previously.
“There is an increase in the spot market price compared to the previous month,” said IEMOP vice president for trading operations Isidro Cacho Jr., noting that a relatively tamed demand despite an outage kept prices low the month prior.
Cacho noted the seasonal nature of the price trend. “We are in October, every year we see that the demand increases so correspondingly we see an increase, even in previous years that is the trend, it is higher than September,” he said.
He warned that distribution utilities purchasing from the spot market would pass on the increase to consumers.
Multiple outages caused by typhoons and inclement weather also contributed to higher WESM prices, a situation that was mitigated by the imposition of market suspension, he added.
WESM rates in Luzon rose 54.3 percent, or by P1.39 per kWh, to P3.96 per kWh from P2.57 per kWh. Luzon demand grew 1.9 percent to 9,777 MW, while supply declined 6.1 percent to 13,790 MW.
Average Visayas rates also increased 45.3 percent to P5.85 per kWh. Its demand declined 1 percent to 1,944 MW against an available supply of 2,421 MW.
Average Mindanao rates also increased 40 percent, or by P1.68 per kWh, to P5.87 per kWh. Mindanao’s demand fell 2.9 percent to 2,161 MW, although its supply slightly increased by 2.4 percent to 3,678 MW.
Cacho said IEMOP expects prices to stabilize and decrease in the remaining months of the year. “If you look at the trend, November and December, demand is down because it’s colder and the holidays are longer,” he said.
“The trend will be down toward November and January,” he said, provided there are no significant unplanned plant outages.
