Consistency and reliability
THE PHILIPPINE Electricity Market Corp. ( PEMC), which governs and operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market ( WESM), a provider of an open, well-functioning market for trading energy as a commodity, values sustainability and transparency.
And so, in the 2016-2017 annual report of WESM, the company, with help from a communications agency, devoted an entire section detailing its sustainability efforts vis-à-vis its operations, as well as their impacts. Doing this, as noted in the report, would aid the company in improving its operations.
WESM plays a vital role in the generation and distribution of electricity in the country. It ensures that there is a stable supply of electricity by facilitating timely exchanges of uncontracted power capacities, as needed, between generators and distributors.
“By placing price caps and enforcing the rules of trade, it ensures competitive and fair pricing,” the annual report said. “This is good for the generators and distributors, who are able to make fair trades, and good for consumers, who benefit from more reliable, and fairly priced power.”
It is imperative to manage an efficient energy trading system that promotes access to reasonably priced energy and that makes the purchase of electricity efficient, competitive, transparent, reliable — a fact that PEMC is deeply aware of.
And thus by operating at a high standard, PEMC is helping itself, the energy sector and the public. “PEMC sets high standards for itself when it comes to the operation of the WESM. More often than not, it exceeds it targets,” the report said.
When it comes to information technology systems, PEMC was able to keep its generators submitting their hourly energy offers online using the Market Management Systems (MMS) conveniently and consistently.
“For the 3rd quarter of 2016, the target for the availability of the MMS was set at 99.80%. This was exceeded, as PEMC managed 99.99% uptime for the systems, with only a 22-minute period of downtime, out of 4,344 hours operation,” the report said.
On top of the near-perfect MMS availability, the company was also able to make WESM web site avail- able 99.98% of the time. The report noted, “PEMC’s commitment to the continuous operation of WESM and flow of pricing information is key to the successful trading of electricity.”
During the period the report covers — from the second half of 2016 to the first half of 2017 — the company surpassed another of its target, this time, for the availability of important publications. PEMC had a 99.998% availability rating over 36 publications, almost five percentage points higher than the 95% target rate. The company also released these publications on time, with a 97.35% timeliness ratio rating.
In terms of forecast accuracy, the report noted, “A total of 4,133 successful Real-Time Dispatch ( RTD) and Real-Time Ex-post (RTX) market runs were completed, with a 100% success rate. Similarly, the performance of WESM exceeded all but one of the targets for the RTD, and Day Ahead Projection forecast accuracy.” PEMC brought down market interventions, which could be caused, for instance, by a software error, to zero, surpassing the target of 98.50% freedom from intervention.
Allowing the so-called “contestable customers” to shift into retail competition and open access program ( RCOA) as well as to choose their own power providers is one important initiative of PEMC as a central registration body. During the seven-month period that began in September of 2016 and ended in March of 2017, the report said, “all but one of 403 registration applications were processed within the standard timeline.” It added, “Overall, PEMC achieved 99.75% - exceeding its target of 95% - of registration applications processed within 15 working days from the submission of complete requirements.”
PEMC understands that to have an efficient and effective system, it has to engage with the people and organizations it affects. Before 2016 came to a close, the company completed the 4th WESM Participants Satisfaction Survey, in which respondents — such as the corporate executive of companies directly participating in WESM — rated their level of satisfaction with a number of aspects of the PEMC and WESM, including the determination of dispatch scheduling and price; the availability of data; and the timeliness of WESM operations.
The respondents also rated the importance of those aspects. “The results of this survey give PEMC a clear picture of where it is operating well, as well as which areas it should prioritize to form stronger bonds with market participants,” the report noted.
The annual report added that the company is helping active and prospective participants become more familiar with the market and the best ways to make use of it. A total of 70 training sessions were conducted during the reporting period.
“This level of engagement helps PEMC choose what will best serve the needs of market participants, whereas the market participants learn how to make the most out of WESM.”