PSE wants to operate electricity exchange

The Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) is asking the Department of Energy (DOE) to give it the mandate to operate the country’s spot electricity market, seen as a prospective win-win partnership for the local bourse and the deregulated local energy industry.

For the PSE, this is part of its dream to diversify its portfolio and maximize the use of its platform for other products beyond equities, PSE president Ramon Monzon said in a recent presentation to the Shareholders Association of the Philippines.

“Our long-term vision, our dream is that we will operate other exchanges. The PSE will just be one exchange,” Monzon said.

The PSE is working on its bid to take over the Philippine Dealing System Group, which will add fixed-income trading to its business if and when approved by regulators.

“We started talks with the DOE if we could also operate that electricity exchange and basically, of course, the question they ask is what do we know about electricity? And my answer is, an exchange is really a technology company,” Monzon said.

“But our selling point basically to the DOE is by having a professional organization operate the electricity exchange, we insulate it from political influences. Every time there’s a change in administration, it won’t have new sets of people trying to get there and trying to run it,” Monzon said.

In the Philippines, the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rules set the basic rules, requirements and procedures that govern the operation of the Philippine electricity market. The WESM rulebook identifies, recognizes and sets the responsibilities of the market operator, system operator and WESM participants, among others.

The rules are meant to ensure the development of an “appropriate, equitable and transparent electricity market, along with safe, reliable, and efficient operation of the power system.”

Republic Act No. 9136, also known as the “Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001” mandated the DOE to establish the WESM, which is governed by the Philippine Electricity Market Board. —DORIS DUMLAO-ABADILLA