The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) on Friday reported lower average prices in the retail market in the first quarter 2024, leading to more consumers exercising their right to choose their own suppliers.
It said in a statement the Meralco Group retained its position as the top retail electricity supplier (RES) in terms of the number of customers, while the Aboitiz Group has the highest market share in terms of demand.
A report prepared by the ERC’s Market Operations Service-Retail Market Division (MOS-RMD) on the competitive retail electricity market (CREM) shows that the supply prices of RES in the first quarter of 2024 varied from P3.57 per kilowatt-hour to P7.67/kWh, with a weighted average price of P5.49 per kWh.
The ERC said this was lower than the 2023 weighted average generation charges of distribution utilities (DU) for captive customers in the main grids of Luzon (P7.0665), Visayas (P7.7093) and the national average (P6.7460).
It said the benefits of CREM rates in 2023 became more apparent when viewed against the 2022 average generation charges of DUs in Luzon (P8.0408), Visayas (P8.4941) and Mindanao (P7.8813) or the national average of P8.1388 per kWh.
“This is consistent with the 2023 report published by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation noting that, in 2023, CREM customers realized an estimated total savings of P46 billion because the rates in the CREM are 23 percent lower compared to the DU average rates,” it said.
PEMC is the governing body of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the trading floor of electricity.
The total number of registered CREM customers also increased from 1,918 in 2022 to 1,999 by March 2024, while there are now 330 GEOP customers.
The ERC issued licenses to 48 RES and 29 Local RES (in-house RES of DUs). Thirty two RES and two local RES have active contracts with CREM customers.