MANILA — Consumers may see higher power rates on their next due date after the Red and Yellow Alerts issued amid the recent power shortages.
The Energy Regulatory Commission said its suspension of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) during Red Alerts will not include the series of price spikes in the Luzon and Visayas spot markets during the Red and Yellow Alerts in April.
This means that the price increases monitored in the Luzon and the Visayas grids will already be reflected in customers’ April bills.
The ERC on Wednesday ordered the suspension of the WESM in Luzon and Visayas when major power grids in the areas are placed on red alert.
The WESM serves as the platform for trading electricity as a commodity in the Philippines.
ERC Chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said there is no specific amount yet for the increase since this will depend on how much electricity a utility or cooperative got from the spot market.
For example, Meralco gets around 10 to 20 percent of its overall supply from the spot market, while the rest of its supply is contracted.
When asked if the ERC will intervene if the rate hike reaches more than P1/kWh, for example, Dimalanta said the commission will leave it to the utility or cooperative, if they want to implement a staggered increase.
The official, however, appealed to generators to be considerate and allow a staggered collection of payment to shield consumers from bill shocks.
Dimalanta explained that the market will not stop operating during Red Alerts. Rather, the price of electricity will be capped either by the secondary price cap of P6.245/kWh or the average prices in the last 4 weeks of the same period when the red alert was declared, whichever is lower.
Dimalanta explained that electricity prices in the Philippines are structured in such a way that what consumers pay is the true cost of electricity without any subsidy from the government.
The ERC is currently investigating power plants that bogged down unannounced leading to Yellow and Red alerts in the Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao grids.
Dimalanta said penalties are in order if the commission finds the plants’ explanation wanting.
The commission noted that this year is extraordinary, as extreme heat really pushed demand up, even surpassing the projected peak demand for the entire summer season.
Originally published on https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/2024/5/3/ai-sees-widening-adoption-among-ph-firms-microsoft-1206
