Electricity spot market price down 31% in Sept.

The price of electricity sourced from the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) fell by 31 percent during the September billing period, settling at only P2.86 per kilowatt-hour (kWh).

This showed a marked decline compared to the final effective settlement spot price of P4.17 per kWh in August. The effective settlement spot price referred to the average price paid by customers for energy bought from the spot market, the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) said.

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s biggest distribution utility, thus saw a decline in its generation charge for October due to the lower charges from the WESM.

According to Meralco, spot prices had softened as peak demand in the Luzon grid was down by around 300 megawatts in September. The share of WESM purchases to Meralco’s total requirements, however, went down from 20.6 percent to 16.1 percent.

The PEMC said coal remained the dominant fuel in the generation mix, accounting for 49.33 percent of the energy sold during the September billing period, while emerging renewable energy technologies contributed 3.7 percent.