The average electricity price at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market declined this month to P5.20 per kilowatt-hour from P6.51 per kWh in October on higher power generation capacity following the resumption of the Malampaya natural gas field in northwest Palawan.
Data from WESM operator Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines showed the average available capacity for Luzon and Visayas rose to 14,246 MW in November from 13,374 MW in October.
The average demand at WESM, the trading floor of electricity, also improved to 10,379 MW from 10,207 MW in October.
“The reason why rates are lower [for November] is because of increase in supply… Our supply went up after the Malampaya maintenance outage. The other gas plants are already available, so from 13,300 MW it went up to 14,200 MW,” IEMOP manager for simulation and analysis John Paul Grayda said.
The Malampaya maintenance outage from Oct. 2 to 25 resulted in significant decrease in available supply, triggering an increase in average rate to P6.51 per kWh.
Grayda said they were expecting lower demand in December based on historical data amid cooler weather.
“In December, we experience lower demand and if the outage is not significant, then next month we see close to P5 or a lower price for the next month,” he said.
Grayda said WESM has a registered capacity totaling 21,404 MW with 17,752 MW coming from Luzon and the remaining 3,652 MW from Visayas.
The WESM in Mindanao is targeted to initially operate by Dec. 26, but full commercial operation is expected by March next year.
The three-month leeway is intended to give Mindanao participants time to familiarize themselves with the process and infrastructure of the new market.
Meanwhile, Grayda said customer consumption from January to October reached 67,312 MW, up 5 percent year-on-year which is “a good indicator that the economy has already restored and improving economic growth.”