PEMC probes 9 companies for power market violations

Business mirror

TUESDAY, 14 AUGUST 2012 20:56 PAUL ANTHONY A. ISLA / REPORTER

THE Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), is investigating nine players in the power market for allegedly violating market rules, Melinda Ocampo, the company president, said on Tuesday.

At the sidelines of the 6th WESM Annual Participants’ Meeting, Ocampo told reporters there were nine requests for investigation (RFIs) submitted to the PEMC Board for possible breach of the WESM Rules on the submission of offers.

She, however, declined to identify the nine respondent-companies, saying that the investigation is still under way.

The request for an investigation, Ocampo said, was recommended by the WESM’s market surveillance committee. The recommendation, once approved by the board, will be submitted to the enforcement and compliance office (ECO) for investigation.

Ocampo said ECO’s report will serve as the bases of the PEMC Board when it determines the appropriate penalties to be imposed against the violators.

Ocampo said initial report alleged that the nine parties to the case have breached WESM rules, such as the provision on real-time dispatch, among others.

Ocampo said the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) may have its own assessment on the investigation and possible imposition of sanction against the respondent companies. She added that the ERC intervenes in cases of “anti-competitive behavior” among the market players.

Ocampo said the latest nine cases were not the first time that cases of such nature were investigated.

In 2006 Ocampo recalled the surveillance committee found a breach of competitive rules in the WESM, which the board acted upon. After investigation, the board ordered the correction of the affected bills in the third and fourth billing months to protect consumers’ interest.

She said the MSC, then, determined that the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp.  behaved anti-competitively and abused market power during peak hours in the billing period August 26 to September 25, 2006, with usually high offers.

Ocampo said the enforcement and compliance is a primary regulation process. She added that they believe that this can only be as effective as the process for investigation of breach by WESM members is effective.      source