Published
By Myrna Velasco
Electric bills will
increase next month due to the string of yellow alerts that has been straining
the Luzon grid in recent days, the Department of Energy said Thursday.
In the first week of
April alone, the biggest power grid of the country was already plunged into
“yellow alert” or lack of power reserves condition for four days – generally
due to unplanned power outages and de-rating of power plants.
With these series of
yellow alerts being experienced in the power system, Energy Undersecretary
Felix William B. Fuentebella said “there is a tendency for power rate hikes.”
The situation could only be softened, depending on the sourcing of power supply
of the servicing distribution utilities – including the provision for
replacement power of those generating units that suffered unplanned outages.
In the data provided by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the
Philippines (IEMOP), it was noted that average prices at the Wholesale
Electricity Spot Market (WESM) had gone higher to P7.00 per kilowatt hour (kwh)
in this week’s reserve-deficient or yellow alert situations in the power
system.
That was an increase
from the average P5.082 per kwh settlement price in March and the even lower
average price in the spot market at P4.058 per kwh.
In some trading
intervals, the WESM operator admitted that prices were at relatively high
prices of P10.00 per kwh to P35.00 per kwh – the latter even breaching the spot
market price cap of P32 per kwh.
The Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) has also indicated that it has been closely monitoring
developments in the WESM – and keeping track of spikes that may eventually be
passed on to the electric bills of consumers.
Beyond rate hikes, the Department of Energy (DOE) noted that on the supply
side, enough capacity is assured but there’s still no definite assurance that
power interruptions will not happen, especially during the high demand months of
summer.
Fuentebella explained
that supply tightening happens because of sudden uptick in demand – and
circumstances in the power system could be aggravated if there are sudden
outages of power plants that could have been originally expected to be offered
in the market; or if there are technical upsets in other segments of the power
system such as in transmission and distribution networks of power utilities.
Meanwhile, on the
fourth day of yellow alert this week, the DOE reported at least five plants on
forced outages – Malaya Unit 2; Pagbilao unit 3; South Luzon Thermal Energy
Corporation (SLTEC) Unit 1; Makiling-Banahaw Unit 7; and Tiwi plants unit 1 and
6.
The
generating facilities on scheduled maintenance downtimes are Calaca Unit 1;
Pagbilao unit 1 and San Roque power facility-unit 2; while the de-rated plants
are Masinloc Unit-2; Calaca Unit 2; Malaya unit 1 and South Luzon Power
Generation Corporation Unit-2.
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