Wholesale power spot mart comm’l start faces delay

The country’s wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) could likely fail to start commercial operations this month, a ranking energy official said.

"I doubt it if it can operate. It is most unlikely for WESM as it has not complied yet with the conditions of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA)," Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) chairman Rodolfo Albano Jr. said.

Philippine Electric Market Corp. (PEMC) president Lasse Holopainen earlier said they expect the WESM’s commercial operations to start on Jan. 20.

Though acknowledging that they need the ERC approvals first before they could commercially operate the WESM, Holopainen said their system is ready.

Albano, however, said the commission has not yet to conduct public hearings on PEMC’s two applications.

"They have to comply with the conditions of the EPIRA which include the ERC approvals on price determination methodology (PDM) and the market fees," he said.

The ERC chief said the commission will start the public hearing on Jan.24. "These applications should undergo due process," he said.

The industry has been waiting for the operation of the WESM to signal the start of the open access scheme wherein customers would be given a chance to choose where to source their electricity needs. Open access, under the law, will come six months after the start of the WESM operations.

Preparations for WESM started in December 2004 with the site acceptance test. A few months later, the PEMC was created to handle the WESM operations.

In January 2005, PEMC started the Luzon Trial Operation Program (TOP).