by Myrna Velasco February 2, 2016
The rules governing the operations
of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) did not provide for dispute
resolution of market breaches, hence, the market operator is not inclined to
open the negotiating table yet on the case involving Therma Mobile, Inc. (TMO)
of the Aboitiz group.
Given this, WESM operator Philippine
Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) said it opted to file a motion for
reconsideration on the recent ruling issued by the Court of Appeals.
In that decision, the CA directed
the parties to settle their dispute involving the P234.9 million worth of
penalties enforced against TMO allegedly for violations of market rules.
PEMC, in its statement to the media
though, has noted that “the WESM investigation process of WESM Rules and Market
Manuals is not covered by mediation and arbitration.”
It expounded “the WESM Rules is
clear that the investigation process is not a commercial transaction and
therefore not covered by the term ‘dispute’ that should go mediation and
arbitration if a participant disagrees with the results.”
If referenced on the provisions of
the Electric Power Industry Reform Act, the WESM operator stressed that “the
proper course of action of a participant is to escalate the finding to the
Energy Regulatory Commission via an original action.”
In spite of the protracted legal
skirmish over the TMO case, however, PEMC president Melinda L. Ocampo indicated
that they are “always open to discuss any issue with the participants as long
as it is consistent with its mandate under the WESM Rules.”
She added that being the operator of
the spot market, they commit to “upholding the integrity of the WESM
investigation process”; and that they shall always adhere to “creating a level
playing field among the WESM players.”
The Aboitiz firm previously argued
that it could not have been held liable with the alleged market breaches of
‘capacity withholding’ because of the technical constraint on the transmission
line then for the wheeling of generated electricity from the TMO plant.
The facility is of 234-megawatt
installed capacity, but its delivery to off-taker Manila Electric Company on
the questioned supply months of November-December 2013 had just been at 100MW
due to the indicated transmission line capacity limits.
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