Visayas, Mindanao WESM rates soar amid thin power supply

MANILA, Philippines – The average spot market power price could hit P9 per kilowatt hour (kWh) if the supply constraints in the Visayas grid persist and the impact of the strong Mindanao earthquake worsens.

For May, the Visayas and Mindanao already posted a steep rise in Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) rates.

READ: Visayas in dire need of new baseload power plants, says Garin

In a media briefing on Wednesday, an executive of the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) said the scenario was “possible in the next few weeks” if the supply side will not improve.

“Until there are big forced outages, we might be seeing the situation,” said Isidro Cacho, Jr., IEMOP vice-president for trading operations.

He noted that two major coal plants in Mindanao went offline following the earthquake.

READ: Mindanao earthquake death toll rises to 45 – NDRRMC

IEMOP operates the WESM, an avenue where power is traded between producers and distributors to boost their supply.

For the month of May, the average WESM prices climbed by 38.5 percent to P7.79 per kWh. This, as demand jumped by 9.4 percent to 15,755 megawatts, while supply during the period just inched up by 2.7 percent.

Amid tight power supply, Visayas posted the steepest WESM rate increase surging 81.4% to P10.20 per kWh.

Mindanao likewise saw spot prices go up by 64.8 percent to P9.28 per kWh. Luzon, meanwhile, recorded a 24.8-percent increase to P7.02 per kWh. /pai