Manila BulletinBy Myrna M. VelascoPublished: March 31, 2013
Electricity consumers will have to brace for increased electric bills this April after prices inthe Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) have started exhibiting new ‘record-highs’ due to several instances of supply tightness.
It was culled from a market report circulated by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) that the highest cleared price in the electricity spot market reached P47.904 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for Luzon grid last March 13.
The spikes in spot market prices at summer months are considerably “cyclical phenomenon,” hence, distribution utilities are already advancing word to their customers that they should expect higher electric bills during these periods.
Roughly all days within the second week of March exhibited high cleared prices at P30.30 per kWh on March 11; and P35.223 per kWh last March 12. Prices eased on other days, but another high price was logged last March 15 at P21.611 per kWh.
The Visayas market suffered parallel cost up-ticks during that week with the highest cleared price hitting P34.799 per kWh last March 12; while the others were at ranges of P14.256 per kWh to P29.393 per kWh.
Last week was another “stressful period” for the market, with system prices still peaking at P47.904 per kWh from March 22-24.
The WESM market report specified noted that the second week “started off with tight supply conditions because of the significant increase in demand while no significant improvement was observed in the supply levels with reference to the previous week.”
As a result, the market operator added, “under-generation and load-shedding conditions were reflected in the market results.”
At days when spot prices were tamed, the WESM emphasized that it was due to the capacities from the Pagbilao 1 and Sta Rita 40 generating units which came back on-line after undergoing maintenance.
Last March 14, it was noted that the system’s peak demand reached 9,664 megawatts, especially during the high consumption period of 1:00pm.
“Price spikes were frequently observed during the periods of tight supply conditions… wherein extremely high prices were mostly confined in Luzon because of the frequent price separations observed between the Luzon and Visayas grids,” the market operator stressed.
It emphasized that “the transfer capacity of the 350 kilovolt HVDC (high voltage direct current) link from the Visayas to Luzon was still limited up to 200MW” for most of the second week of March. source
It was culled from a market report circulated by the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) that the highest cleared price in the electricity spot market reached P47.904 per kilowatt hour (kWh) for Luzon grid last March 13.
The spikes in spot market prices at summer months are considerably “cyclical phenomenon,” hence, distribution utilities are already advancing word to their customers that they should expect higher electric bills during these periods.
Roughly all days within the second week of March exhibited high cleared prices at P30.30 per kWh on March 11; and P35.223 per kWh last March 12. Prices eased on other days, but another high price was logged last March 15 at P21.611 per kWh.
The Visayas market suffered parallel cost up-ticks during that week with the highest cleared price hitting P34.799 per kWh last March 12; while the others were at ranges of P14.256 per kWh to P29.393 per kWh.
Last week was another “stressful period” for the market, with system prices still peaking at P47.904 per kWh from March 22-24.
The WESM market report specified noted that the second week “started off with tight supply conditions because of the significant increase in demand while no significant improvement was observed in the supply levels with reference to the previous week.”
As a result, the market operator added, “under-generation and load-shedding conditions were reflected in the market results.”
At days when spot prices were tamed, the WESM emphasized that it was due to the capacities from the Pagbilao 1 and Sta Rita 40 generating units which came back on-line after undergoing maintenance.
Last March 14, it was noted that the system’s peak demand reached 9,664 megawatts, especially during the high consumption period of 1:00pm.
“Price spikes were frequently observed during the periods of tight supply conditions… wherein extremely high prices were mostly confined in Luzon because of the frequent price separations observed between the Luzon and Visayas grids,” the market operator stressed.
It emphasized that “the transfer capacity of the 350 kilovolt HVDC (high voltage direct current) link from the Visayas to Luzon was still limited up to 200MW” for most of the second week of March. source
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