April 5, 2018 | 9:12 pm
THE retail electricity market
continues to attract more participants with registrants of 940 by the fourth
quarter of 2017, or nearly four times the level of contestable customers when
it launched in June 2013.
In a report, the Philippine
Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) said Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) had the
biggest share of the contestable market — those whose average monthly
consumption in the past year has reached the threshold set by the energy
regulator.
“By the end of December 2017 billing
month, about 30% of all registrants are being supplied by Meralco local RES
(retail electricity supplier),” said PEMC, the entity that oversees the
wholesale electricity spot market.
PEMC, which is also the repository
of data on the retail market, also said Meralco’s share in the energy
consumption of all registered contestable customers during the fourth quarter
was about 33% of the total.
Under existing rules, consumers
whose power usage reach a monthly average of at least 1 megawatt (MW) are
required to buy their electricity from retail electricity suppliers (RES).
That threshold was meant to be lowered
to 750-kilowatts (kW) but the Supreme Court issued a temporary restraining
order, leaving only those in the 1-MW consumer segment in the “contestable”
market. The high court has yet to lift its order.
In the PEMC report, 78 contestable
customers are in the 750-kW to 999-kW range, while 862 customers are in the 1
MW and above level.
Majority or 856 registered customers
are in Luzon and the remaining 84 are in the Visayas. Of these customers, 462
registrants are engaged in industrial activities while 478 are into commercial
ventures.
“The total registrants is about 59%
of the 1,598 electricity end-users that were already issued a Certificate of
Contestability by the ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission),” the report said.
In terms of energy consumption, the
registered customers used about 4,040 gigawatt-hours (GWh), up about 4% from
the previous quarter. The latest consumption level accounts for about 23% of
the combined energy consumption of the registered contestable customers and the
captive customers for the fourth quarter. — Victor V. Saulon
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