Reopening of power reserve market likely to be delayed—ERC

By Alena Mae S. Flores – July 11, 2024, 8:15 pm
from manilastandard.net

The Energy Regulatory Commission said Thursday the resumption of operations of the reserve market may be delayed, pending the completion of the public consultations on the floor and ceiling price.

“It looks like it will be a long discussion which may impact on the timeline also for the resumption of the reserve market, because we definitely want the resumption to happen only when we have the offer floor and price cap,” ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said.

The ERC said the move is part of the agency’s mandate to protect the welfare of consumers, while also ensuring that the entry of investments in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) and the reserve market is not affected.

The reserve market, now integrated into the WESM, the trading floor of electricity, aims to co-optimize energy and reserves. This is expected to foster competition and affordability while ensuring grid security and reliability.

Dimalanta said the discussions would include whether to pursue the recovery of the remaining 70 percent settlement amounts in the reserve market.

“That will be part of the decision… We have already tracked more than 100 comments from stakeholders. We have a lot to sort out,” she said.

Dimalanta said they were initially looking at resuming operations of the reserve market this month, but there was a possibility it would be deferred.

The ERC is conducting consultations on the proposed interim price cap of P19 per kilowatt-hour for the reserve market, subject to consultations and submission of additional data from the power generating companies.