- With the lifting of the settlement suspension, the uncollected amounts during the enforcement of that rule will already be recouped and passed on to ratepayers in the next electric bills.
The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has finally lifted the suspension it earlier imposed on the settlement of traded capacities in the co-optimized reserve market, hence, consumers will have to brace for added cost burden in their forthcoming electric bills.
With the lifting of the settlement suspension, the uncollected amounts during the enforcement of that rule will already be recouped and passed on to ratepayers in the next electric bills.
In line with that ruling, the ERC had instructed the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) “to recalculate the resulting reserve trading amounts for the billing periods of February 2024 and March 2024, and adjust the value for the remaining 70% for the March billing month.”
The ERC qualified that “the lifting of the suspension paves the way for the resumption of full operations of trading of reserves in the WESM for contracted and merchant plants, thereby improving grid security.”
In that specified ruling, the Commission similarly extended the “interim relief it granted for the adoption and implementation of the proposed PDM (price determination methodology),” albeit with some additional conditions.
As explained, the PDM serves as a mechanism to determine the prices and settlements for capacities traded in the WESM as stipulated in the Market Manual.
The suspension on settlements at the reserve market was ordered by the regulatory body in March, as it was observed then that there had been sudden uptick in the settlement prices for traded ancillary services capacities – plus there were also compliances awaited from the governance body and operator of the spot market.
Essentially, that had been four months of non-settlement at the reserve market prior to the lifting which had been directed via ERC resolution issued in July 26.
“The Commission determined that the grounds for the suspension are no longer present, following the compliance of Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) and IEMOP with the ERC’s directives for the evaluation of their application for the proposed amended PDM (price determination methodology),” the ERC stressed.
It emphasized that “the suspension issued last March 26 applied to all capacities in the reserve market, except those offered and dispatched pursuant to the Ancillary Services Purchase Agreement (ASPA) covered by the Commission’s rulings.”
Further, the regulatory body had mandated system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) “to harmonize the timeline of its submission of non-compliances to the IEMOP.”
