December spot power prices set to drop
Credit to Author: JORDEENE B. LAGARE| Date: Mon, 17 Dec 2018 16:21:36 +0000
PRICES at the Philippines’ Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) are expected to decline further this month because of reduced demand, according to its operator.
In a quarterly report, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, Inc. (IEMOP) said the “recent low spot prices provide an indication that they will continue to be low for the rest of December 2018, since lower demand levels are still expected during this time of the year.”
Average spot prices in October and November stood at P3.5 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and P3.2 per kWh, respectively, lower than last year’s P3.7 per kWh and P3.2 per kWh, despite registering lower prices in August and September.
“[S] uch spot prices were relatively low for the past three years,” the non-stock, non-profit IEMOP noted.
The report comes after IEMOP became the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in September. Its creation was mandated by Republic Act 9136, or the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, which called for the creation of an independent operator not later than one year after the WESM’s opening.
It also comes after the operator said it was proposing changes to encourage participation and enhance competition in the market. These include registering contestable customers as trading participants at the WESM as voluntary, instead of mandatory, to relieve them of all membership requirements and from direct spot market exposure.
The operator also sought to revive its central registration body’s process of gathering information on all eligible contestable customers, including their current supplier, metering information, and customer information from distribution utilities.
The post December spot power prices set to drop appeared first on The Manila Times Online.