Visayas power spot market running well

MANILA, Philippines –  The operation the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) in the Visayas has been going on smoothly, an energy official said.

Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) president Melinda Ocampo told reporters that the Visayas WESM is running smoothly after starting commercial operations last Dec. 26.

PEMC operates both the Visayas and Luzon WESM, the centralized venue for buyers and sellers to trade electricity as a commodity where prices are based on actual use (demand) and availability (supply).

Ocampo said PEMC will meet with market participants “to clarify and answer questions regarding issues they encountered during the first few days of commercial operations.”

She said prices of electricity traded at the Visayas WESM are now based on market forces.

WESM Visayas has been integrated to the Luzon grid since Dec. 26, making available excess capacities in Luzon to Visayas, and vice versa.

Ocampo said there are power suppliers in the Visayas who have no contracts and at the “WESM, we will be able to account for them.”

Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras also said those who previously opposed WESM in the Visayas here finally realized the benefits of putting it in place.

“Those who have opposed it have finally understood why we need to do it. I told them, if you allow WESM to operate today, your brownouts will end today,” he said.

Almendras said there will be a slight increase in the power rates in Visayas once WESM starts commercial operations.

Electric cooperatives in the Visayas earlier threatened to file a temporary restraining order against the operations of WESM but so far, no case has been filed.