PEMC flags electric cooperatives’ financial capacity for spot market

DAVAO CITY — The financial capacity of electric cooperatives remains the biggest concern in the planned opening of the wholesale electricity spot market ( WESM) in Mindanao, according to the head of the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC).

Melinda L. Ocampo, president of PEMC, the governance arm of WESM, said in a news conference here yesterday that the government must ensure that there is “discipline among electric cooperatives.”

“We are asking the government to ensure that there is a policy ( on cooperatives participating in the WESM),” said Ms. Ocampo, noting that payments in the spot market are usually one of the main burdens in implementation.

Energy Undersecretary Felix William B. Fuentebella, in the same news conference organized by the Department of Energy ( DoE), admitted that there are power generators that have yet to be paid by cooperatives for transactions under the short- lived interim Mindanao electricity market (IMEM) that was set up in late 2013.

“Some companies who joined the market have yet to get paid,” said Mr. Fuentebella.

The DoE off icial said the National Electricity Administration ( NEA) will have to strengthen its monitoring of electric cooperatives, noting that NEA is “mandated to ensure that they comply with the policies.”

Under the draft guidelines on the Mindanao WESM, NEA is mandated to offer assistance, both technical and financial, to electric cooperatives, particularly those that will find themselves in difficulty adjusting to the market.