WESM market breaches rising

MANILA, Philippines - The operator of the country’s electricity spot market has unearthed 1,600 cases of breaching market rules by withholding supply since the controversial power rate spike three years ago.

The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) has seen a significant increase in the number of cases from last year up to the first half of this year, Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) president Melinda Ocampo said.

“This is a testament to the market’s determination to strengthen its monitoring and enforcement processes with a view to promote accountability and foster a culture of compliance,” Ocampo added.

The spike in number of cases resulted from the monthly endorsement by the market surveillance committee (MSC) of requests for investigation (RFIs) to the enforcement and compliance office (ECO).

“As of June 2015, the ECO has received 1,611 RFIs since February 2014,” she said.

Ocampo said most of the cases involved violation of the must offer rule and real time response.

The must offer rule requires generation companies registered in the WESM to declare and offer the maximum generating capacities of their plants in the spot market.

The rule is to prevent power plants from withholding energy and pushing prices upward, as well as to ensure energy sufficiency by making all available generation capacities in the spot market. 

This is the same case filed against AboitizPower subsidiary Therma Mobile Inc., PANASIA Energy, Inc. and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

PEMC imposed penalties on these companies, which are among the at least 11 companies found to have breached the WESM rule on the must offer during the November and December 2013 period.

Therma Mobile owns and operates four power barges in Navotas City with combined rated capacity of 234 megawatts (MW) while PANASIA owns a 540-MW diesel plant. On the other hand, PSALM owns the 140-MW Casecnan hydro plant and 650-MW Malaya thermal plant.

However, in the case of Therma Mobile, the Pasig Regional Trial Court Branch 157 has stopped PEMC from collecting the P234.9-million penalty on the Aboitiz unit.

Ocampo said PEMC has already elevated the case to the Court of Appeals.

 “It’s now pending. We’re waiting for the CA decision,” she said.

AboitizPower had said Therma Mobile did not withhold any capacity as it was physically impossible for its unit to transmit more than 100 MW to Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) from its power barges.