By Danessa Rivera (The
Philippine Star) | Updated July 31, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Energy
Secretary Alfonso Cusi has ordered the creation of a transition committee for
the interim management of the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) and
the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
Under the department order, the
transition committee is tasked to assess PEMC’s existing structure, system and
resources and propose a way forward for WESM to meet the challenges ahead.
The committee has seven months from
Aug. 1, 2017 to complete the transition.
The committee will be chaired by
Oscar Ala to exercise the functions of the PEMC president until one is
appointed by the PEMC board.
Cusi said the creation of the
transition committee is in line with President Duterte’s thrust of ensuring the
protection of electricity consumers.
He said PEMC would continue to
effectively govern the operations of WESM for the benefit of all electricity
stakeholders.
Meanwhile, a new Philippine
Electricity Market Board has been formed, with Cusi as chairman.
On the organizational level, the
Energy chief assured PEMC employees the PEMC leadership shall continue to
improve and advance their welfare as WESM operations continue to evolve.
PEMC was incorporated in 2003 and
was constituted as the autonomous group market operator to oversee market
governance and perform the functions of the market operator in the WESM, which
was created under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, the
power reform law.
But under EPIRA, the WESM must be
transferred to an independent market operator or IMO one year after its
establishment.
In December 2016, the DOE launched
an overall independent audit on the PEMC, operator of the electricity spot
market, to ensure competitive power prices and safeguard consumers.
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