Power spot market prices down in Oct

The electricity spot market continued to register monthly reductions in rates in October as a result of to higher supply and lower demand due to cooler temperature.

In a statement, the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) said effective settlement spot prices ( ESSPs) in the wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) fell seven percent from P2.86 per kilowatthour in September to P2.48 per kwh in October.

ESSPs refer to the average prices paid by wholesale customers for energy purchased from the spot market.

PEMC said this month’s ESSP is the lowest since October 2015.

“The decrease in spot prices is attributable to increased supply owing to higher output of generating units and lower demand due to colder temperature,” PEMC president Melinda L. Ocampo said.

For the month, market data reflected coal resource accounted for 47.5 percent of the generation mix while natural gas and diesel/oil were equivalent to 25.8 percent and 1.3 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, renewable energy resources contributed 25.36 percent, broken down into 12.4 percent for geothermal, 9.8 percent for hydropower, 1.4 percent for solar, 0.9 percent each for wind and biomass.

In terms of billing, 17 percent of total energy transactions were sourced from the spot market while the 83 percent were supplied through bilateral contracts.

“It must be highlighted that the spot exposure of wholesale customers at 17 percent is the highest since July 2010. We are pleased that the customers have become proficient in procuring their power requirements from the WESM at this juncture where electricity prices are at its lowest,” Ocampo said.