Power spot market rates dip last month

MANILA, Philippines — The initial average price of electricity in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) edged lower last month, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP).

Based on preliminary data, the WESM rates for the entire country declined primarily due to lower power demand, which partially offset the equally lower available supply for the month.

Operated by IEMOP, WESM is the centralized venue for trading electricity as a commodity where prices are determined by supply and demand.

For the June 26 to July 25 period, the average electricity rate at the system-wide WESM eased by three percent to P5.97 per kilowatt-hour from P6.15 per kWh.

Supply was 3.9 percent lower at 18,867 megawatts last month from 19,638 MW, while demand inched down by 4.9 percent to 13,989 MW from 14,710 MW.

The supply margin, or the difference between the available supply and the actual demand, dropped to 4,878 MW from the preceding month’s 4,928 MW.

For the Luzon grid, the average spot market power rate dipped by 0.9 percent to P5.92 per kWh from P5.97 per kWh.

The region’s supply slipped by 3.8 percent to 13,340 MW from 13,860 MW.

The demand was also down by 4.9 percent to 10,142 MW from 10,664 MW, resulting in a marginally higher supply margin of 3,198 MW from 3,196 MW.

The average electricity rate in the Visayas, meanwhile, plunged by 12.4 percent to P7.50 per kWh from P8.56 per kWh.

Supply was said to have decreased by 9.3 percent to 2,105 MW from 2,322 MW, while demand inched down by 5.4 percent to 1,894 MW from 2,002 MW.

This resulted in a supply margin of 211 MW, lower than the 320 MW recorded in June.

As for Mindanao, the average spot market price rose by 1.3 percent to P4.67 per kWh from P4.61 per kWh due to the forced outages of some baseload power plants in the region.

Supply for the month saw a downtick of one percent at 3,421 MW from 3,457 MW, while demand sank by 4.5 percent to 1,952 MW from 2,044 MW.

The supply margin for the region expanded to 1,469MW from 1,413 MW.