5 power firms eye seats in WESM

By Myrna M. Velasco – Updated April 23, 2018, 2:59 PM
from Manila Bulletin

At least five giant power generation companies (GenCos) have nominated their respective representatives in the board of the restructured Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), the governing body of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

In the current list of prospective PEMC Board contenders are: Elenita D. Go, general manager of SMC Global Power Holdings Corporation; Victor Emmanuel B. Santos, senior vice president for legal, regulatory and power marketing of First Gen Corporation, Emmanuel V. Rubio, executive vice president and COO of Aboitiz Power Generation Group; Juan Eugenio L. Roxas, president and chief executive officer of FDC Utilities, Inc. (FDCUI); and Arnold C. Francisco, officer-in-charge of state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation.

San Miguel, Aboitiz Power and First Gen are the country’s leading power generation firms; while FDCUI has massive investments in Mindanao grid.

PSALM holds the power capacity transferred to it by the privatized National Power Corporation (NPC) and remains the fourth biggest player in the industry, hence, it has always been accommodated previously for a seat at the PEM Board.

Nevertheless, with the WESM governance body’s restructuring after its operations’ transfer to an independent market operator (IMO), the new set of appointments is expected to place all industry players on equal footing when it comes to cornering a board seat in reframed PEMC.

Four directors from the generation sector shall comprise the board of the WESM governing body which is targeted to be reconstituted on or before June this year. As cast in the IMO Transition Plan, the new PEM Board shall comprise of 15 members, with the Chairman “to be elected from among the independent members by the majority of the board members.”

But as stipulated in the current rules, “the first chairman of the PEM Board, shall be the DOE (Department of Energy) Secretary,” – in this case would be Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi.

Aside from GenCo Board representatives, the board of the WESM governing body’s composition shall be one from the WESM market operator or the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMO), which by choice could be its CEO; one from the National Transmission Corporation; and four (4) from the distribution sector – two of which are from electric cooperatives and the other two from DUs that are not ECs.