Published March 20, 2018, 10:01 PM By Myrna M.
Velasco
To prevent undue market dominance
and abuses in the restructured electricity sector, the Energy Regulatory
Commission (ERC) has enforced new capacity ownership limitation on power
generation companies (GenCos) as well as control on dispatch call of the power
facilities.
On a national scale, a GenCo must
only own and have dispatch control for up to 5,466.779 megawatts (MW), out of
the country’s total installed capacity of 21,867.117MW.
That has been anchored on the 25
percent national-level market ownership cap prescribed for GenCos under Section
45 (a) of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), the law that enabled
the overall restructuring of the country’s electricity sector.
On a per grid basis, GenCos in Luzon
can own up to 4,552.790 megawatts vis-à-vis the installed capacity of
15,175.967MW. Grid ownership and plant dispatch control reference is anchored
on 30 percent limit against total installed capacity in that particular grid.
For Visayas grid, GenCo limits had
been set at 958.466MW out of 3,194.888MW installed; and in Mindanao grid, that
shall be at 1,048.878MW cap against installed capacity of 3,496.261MW.
The regulatory body noted that it
has been updating the market caps on a yearly basis not just to comply with the
law’s mandate but primarily “to prevent a person, company, related group or
independent power producer administrator, singly or in combination to own,
operate or control more than 30 percent of the installed generation capacity
per grid, and 25 percent of the national grid.”
ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera
explained that “the setting of the installed generating capacity and the market
share limitation – per grid and national grid, ensures consumer protection
through the promotion of free and fair competition in the generation and supply
of electricity.”
She similarly gave word that the
ERC, being the industry regulator, shall “continuously monitor to ensure that
no generation company or other entity violates or breaches the MSL (market
share limitation) per grid and national grid.”
As mandated by law, capacity limits
are to be set on or before March 15 each year, hence, generation
company-players are decreed on their reports submission with a January 30
cut-off date annually.
In this year’s setting of capacity
limits though, the ERC has not qualified yet how it has counted the capacities
of GenCos, primarily those that are also exercising control over retail
electricity supplier (RES) capacities.
Most GenCos are similarly engaged in
the retail supply segment of the transformed power industry and they have
previously manifested concerns on “possible double counting of capacity” if ERC
would not be straightforward on its rules on setting the capacity limits.
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