AVERAGE wholesale electricity prices fell in July and would be reflected in consumers’ August bills, the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (Iemop) said on Thursday.
Isidro Cacho, Iemop vice president for trading operations, attributed it to the seasonal decline in electricity demand during the rainy months and improved generation availability in parts of the Visayas.
In particular, the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) price dropped 13.1 percent to P8.31 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in the July billing period, covering June 26–July 25, from P9.56 per kWh in the previous period.
Average electricity demand declined 3.4 percent to 14,937 megawatts (MW), while available supply fell at a slower 2.6 percent to 20,587 MW.
The Visayas posted the sharpest price drop, with WESM rates falling 21.9 percent to P11.29 per kWh from P14.46 per kWh. Supply rose 3.6 percent to 2,260 MW, while demand increased 4 percent to 2,080 MW.
Despite the improvement in supply, however, the Visayas continued to experience tight reserves during nighttime peak hours, prompting the system operator, National Grid Corp. of the Philippines, to issue yellow and red alerts.
Administered prices were also imposed on July 8 due to generation deficiencies.
Market conditions later improved as some power plants returned from forced outages toward the end of the billing period.
The Visayas also continued to import electricity from Luzon and Mindanao through the Leyte-Luzon and Mindanao-Visayas high-voltage direct current interconnections. Improved operating conditions allowed electricity prices across the interconnected grids to remain aligned for longer periods during the month.
In Mindanao, WESM prices declined 18.6 percent to P10.39 per kWh. Supply edged down 0.3 percent to 3,283 MW, while demand fell 2.9 percent to 2,091 MW.
Forced outages involving several generating units left 474 MW of capacity unavailable, tightening supply conditions in the region.
Luzon, which recorded the lowest spot price among the three grids, saw rates decrease 8.2 percent to P7.30 per kWh. Supply fell to 15,043 MW from 15,659 MW.
Wholesale prices could remain relatively moderate if current supply, demand and transmission conditions persist, although generation availability and changes in electricity consumption could still affect market prices, the Iemop said.
