IEMOP, PEMC seek to collect P1.1 billion in market fees

By Alena Mae S. Flores – October 13, 2023, 8:30 pm
from manilastandard.net

The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) and the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) are seeking to collect market fees from the electricity market participants amounting to P1.135 billion in 2024.

IEMOP is the operator, while PEMC is the governing body of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the trading floor of electricity.

IEMOP and PEMC asked the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) to grant their application for the issuance of a provisional authority authorizing IEMOP to impose a market charge fee of P0.0099 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to all generation companies registered in the WESM based on their actual generation.

The parties submitted a breakdown of its budgetary requirements for 2024, including P484.14 million for personal services, P538.59 million for maintenance and other operating expenses and P112.28 million for capital expenditures.

“The market fee charge shall be recovered from Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao generators, for their actual commercial operations in the WESM,” the ERC filing read.

The parties said sufficiency in resources is needed in any organization, more so in WESM, a dynamic platform operated 24 hours, 7 days a week that is critical in sustaining a transparent and competitive electricity market.

“Given the substantial cuts and disallowances ordered in the recent issuances of the Honorable Commission in the preceding years’ market fees, IEMOP and PEMC both suffered deficits as early as 2020,” it said.

They said the prevailing market fee is “grossly insufficient” to cover the budget for 2024 especially in the wake of market developments that are needed to implement policy and regulatory issuances and the effect of inflation on the market system maintenance and supporting the WESM operations and governance including logistical requirements.