Electricity prices rise at spot market

By Alena Mae S. Flores – March 19, 2021 at 07:55 pm
from manilastandard.net

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, which runs the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, noted an increase in prices in March, averaging P4.23 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), compared with the previous month’s P2.22 per kWh.

IEMOP attributed the uptick in WESM prices to the gradual surge in demand as the economy continued to recover from the restrictions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and as changes in the weather ensued due to the approaching dry season.

IEMOP said power plant outages also contributed to the increase in the prices at the WESM, the country’s trading floor of electricity.

“Despite the generator outages and hotter weather conditions, supply levels remain to be generally sufficient to support the demand requirements which only had an increase of around 9.2 percent in comparison to the previous month,” IEMOP said.