| News and Events |
- PEMC initiates WESM Visayas Trial Operation Program
- PEMC enhances governance with updated roster of officers
- PEMC clarifies WESM impact on Meralco rates
- PEMC releases preliminary March market prices
- PEMC releases final January market prices
- PEMC supports Earth Hour 2010
- PEMC ready to run Electricity Reserve Market as soon as ERC gives go-ahead
- PEMC and NEA empower Electric Cooperatives
- PEMC holds WESM Participants’ Consultation Meeting on Independent Operational Audit
- DOE and PEMC finalize selection process for independent auditor
- 3rd WESM Annual Participants’ Meeting: Highlights in the last 12 Months of Operations
- PEM Board reconstituted to reflect equitable representation in preparation for IMO
- Former DOE Undersecretary Melinda L. Ocampo is new appointed PEMC Acting President
- Former DOE Undersecretary Melinda L. Ocampo is new appointed PEMC Acting President
- PEM Board approves Consumer Education Fund Availment Guidelines
| News Archives |
PEMC releases final January market prices
The Wholesale Electricity Spot Market’s (WESM) final prices for the period covering 26 December 2009 to 25 January 2010 showed an average market price or Effective Settlement Price (ESP) of Php4.56/kWh which was higher than the previous month’s ESP of Php3.66/kWh and January 2009 ESP of Php1.88/kWh.
“Market prices for the past months are lower than the National Power Corporation (NPC) effective rates,” said Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) president Melinda L. Ocampo.
Table 1
WESM Effective Settlement Price (ESP) and NPC Effective Rate
|
Billing Period
|
Customer Buying Price (Php/MWh)
|
Generator Selling Price (Php/MWh)
|
NPC Effective Rate (Php/MWh)
|
|
December 2008
|
1,244.97
|
786.69
|
3,361.10
|
|
January 2009
|
1,881.33
|
1,797.76
|
3,558.90
|
|
December 2009
|
3,656.20
|
3,304.74
|
4,027.10
|
|
January 2010
|
4,559.03
|
4,425.10
|
4,027.10
|
About fourteen percent (14%) of total market transactions for the January billing period were actual purchases from the market, while eighty-six percent (86%) were reported to have been sourced from bilateral power supply contracts, which were settled outside the WESM.
“We emphasize the percentage of bilateral power supply contract transactions as these are not affected by the prices at the WESM. For the January settlements, the prices in the WESM only affected about fourteen percent (14%) of the total consumption,” said PEMC Executive Vice President Mario R. Pangilinan. This follows that the impact of high market prices is highly dependent on a distribution utility’s (DU) amount of power purchases or exposure in the WESM. In cases where spot rates are really expensive, DUs always have the option to maximize their bilateral contracts.
The higher prices for January were driven, in part, by the increase in demand brought about, in turn, by the higher temperatures during the period. Change in the energy mix was also observed. Supply capability of hydroelectric power plants declined as the El Nino Phenomenon has resulted in the drying up of the water reservoirs while some coal and natural gas plants were unavailable resulting in the increased utilization of diesel and oil-based plants.
Table 2
MONTHLY PEAK DEMAND
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|
Peak Demand (MW)
|
||||||||||||
|
|
J
|
F
|
M
|
A
|
M
|
J
|
J
|
A
|
S
|
O
|
N
|
D
|
|
2009
|
6,050
|
6,421
|
6,638
|
6,810
|
6,842
|
6,932
|
6,819
|
6,833
|
6,870
|
6,501
|
6,585
|
6,564
|
|
2008
|
5,949
|
6,034
|
6,205
|
6,619
|
6,590
|
6,681
|
6,512
|
6,373
|
6,448
|
6,520
|
6,395
|
6,338
|
|
2010
|
6,391
|
6,698
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
“WESM is a market. Regardless of the type of commodity it is selling, it is highly affected by market forces, by supply and demand interaction as well as temperature change and the utilization of different types of power plants whether hydro, coal, diesel, etc. which ultimately affect prices at the WESM,” said Ocampo.
Prices were originally expected to rise during the month with natural gas plants on outage during the scheduled maintenance of the Malampaya platform and pipelines as well as with Limay Combined Cycle on deactivated shutdown preparatory to turn over from 11 January to 17 February. Contrary to these expectations however, average prices at the WESM remained below Php11/kWh from 11-18 February when system conditions were at its most unstable.