EXPLAIN OUTAGES, 6 POWER FIRMS TOLD
In light of red and yellow alerts raised in Luzon and Visayas in the last two weeks, the independent and quasi-judicial Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) summoned six generation companies (gencos) to explain the recent outages of their power plants.
The ERC did not identify the gencos who were called to shed light on the matter but said it expects to report on the preliminary findings of its investigation by the first week of May.
The probe will “determine whether show cause orders need to be issued to the relevant stakeholders, in view of possible violations of outage allowances,” it added.
ERC Chair Monalisa Dimalanta said the commission was “diligently studying additional measures we can put in place under this extraordinary increase in demand, as a result of the effects of El Niño, and unavailability of supply or reserves.”
According to Energy Assistant Secretary Mario Marasigan, the peak in electricity demand has already surpassed the 14,000-megawatt level, breaching the previous simulations made by the agency due to “persistent” high temperatures.
On Thursday, 29 locations nationwide registered heat index values categorized as “dangerous” by the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (Pagasa).
The highest heat index recorded on Thursday was 47 degrees Celsius in the northern areas of Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte and Aparri, Cagayan.
In the capital region of Metro Manila, Ninoy Aquino International Airport in Pasay City hit 44C.
Pagasa forecasts that over the next two days, 40 locations may experience “danger” level heat index readings of 42 to 51 C, adding the Science Garden in Quezon City, Metro Manila; Nueva Vizcaya State University in Bayombong, Nueva Vizcaya; Clark International Airport in Pampanga; Calapan City, Oriental Mindoro; Iloilo City, Iloilo; Catarman, Northern Samar; Catbalogan City, Samar; Tacloban City, Leyte; Guiuan, Eastern Samar; General Santos City, South Cotabato; and Butuan City, Agusan del Norte to the list of hot spots.
While the ERC recognized that electricity demand usually spikes during this time of the year, it said that it has been monitoring the price spikes in the
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) over the last 10 days as aggravated by record-high demand and thinning power reserves.
WESM is the central marketplace for trading electricity as a commodity wherein power generators can sell excess energy not covered by any supply agreement and power distributors can secure additional capacity to augment their primary supply.
Citing data from the WESM, the average spot market price in Luzon soared by 47 percent in the week of April 15 to 21 compared to the average prices for the previous week of April 8 to 14.
The ERC said that when compared to previous years, current average prices were consistent with those recorded in 2023 but reflected a 13-percent increase when compared to average prices for the same period in 2022.