Mindanao WESM now expected to be ready by June

THE wholesale electricity spot market ( WESM) in Mindanao will not be ready earlier than June 2018, energy officials said, pointing out kinks in the proposed system changes as well as questions on the readiness of the market participants in the area.

“It’s been moved to June, second quarter,” said Mario C. Marasigan, director at the Department of Energy’s (DoE) electric power industry management bureau.

The DoE launched WESM in Mindanao in June 2017 although it never became fully operational.

DoE Undersecretary Felix Wiliam B. Fuentebella said electricity trading in Mindanao may come even as late as October 2018 because of technical glitches.

He said the department has conducted several public consultations, together with Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC), which runs WESM in Luzon and the Visayas.

WESM is the centralized venue for buyers and sellers to trade electricity as a commodity where prices are based on actual use, or demand, and availability, or supply.

“We are nearing that joint endorsement. We are finalizing everything. We gave a deadline, Dec. 22, for the comments. So we’re finalizing the circular, then we will present it to the board,” Mr. Fuentebella said.

WESM started commercial operations in Luzon in June 2006 and in the Visayas in December of 2010. The DoE previously said that the intricacies of the Mindanao power industry delayed the establishment of WESM on the southern island.

The Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, the law that restructured the Philippine energy sector, mandated the DoE to put up WESM as a venue for trading electricity as a commodity.

WESM Mindanao will be operated by the PEMC, a nonstock, nonprofit corporation which also operates the Luzon and Visayas WESMs. —