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VOLATILE
prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM)
have pushed Manila Electric Co.’s (Meralco) generation
charge to increase by P0.3145 per kilowatt-hour (kWh)
this month to P4.7319/kWh from P4.4174/kWh last month,
according to sources who declined to be named.
The
source noted the October increase is still lower than
the P4.91/kWh and P4.88/kWh rates of April and May,
respectively.
Power
rates at the power market have been relatively high
since August due to power-lines congestion brought about
by the outage of the San Jose substation in Bulacan,
said the source, who added it was only recently that the
National Transmission Corp. (Transco) had completed
repairs of the substation.
Arthur
Aguilar, Transco president, said the three transformers
at the substation have been energized ahead of schedule
on September 30. They replaced the 600-MVA transformer
that broke down in July. “With the energization of the
San Jose substation, Transco will be able to resume full
dispatch of electricity from all available power
sources.”
The
Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) recently ordered the
Philippine Electricity Market Corp., operator of the
WESM, to continue pegging its rates using the National
Power Corp.’s (Napocor) Time-of-Use (TOU) rates.
The ERC
said the Napocor-TOU will apply on the July 26 to August
25, August 26 to September 25, September 26 to October
25 periods, and to succeeding billing periods until
otherwise ordered by the commission.
The
commission added that settlement of line rentals will
also be pegged at the Napocor-TOU rates for the same
periods until an order to the contrary is issued by the
commission.
The ERC
also ordered PEMC to submit a monthly report every 10th
of the month on the result of the WESM operations,
particularly on the price of electricity being traded at
the power market.
In
August, the commission had decided to suspend certain
rules of the WESM in order to cushion the impact of the
sudden increase of power rates at the power market.
The
suspension of the rule will allow the distribution
utilities to apply the Time-Of-Use rates of Napocor as
the applicable rate cushioning the prices from market
volatility. “However, the said rule will be reinstated
once the Transco completes the repair work on the San
Jose Substation,” said the commission. |
