WESM-IMO incorporators named
By Myrna M. Velasco – February 6, 2018, 10:00 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Seven incorporators for the Independent Market Operator (IMO) for the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) have been named in a general assembly of market and power industry participants on Tuesday (February 6).
Those named to incorporate the IMO entity with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are: Transition Committee Chairman Oscar Ala, as well as other transition committee members, namely Chief Operating Officer Francis Saturnino Juan, Rauf A. Tan, lawyer Jose Layug and Engineer Jose Mari Bigornia, plus lawyers Ann Garcia Matibag and Carol Tan.
Matibag is currently the chief of staff of the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) transition committee and wife to National Transmission Corporation (TransCo) President Melvin A. Matibag.
Layug, for his part, is chairman of the National Renewable Energy Board (NREB) and is also affiliated with Puno and Puno law firm.
The rest of the designated IMO incorporators are professionals who have served the energy sector in various capacities as officials of agencies or regulatory bodies.
Energy Secretary Alfonso G. Cusi explained that the transition committee will have extended term until June 30, 2018; but after that, they will already need to step aside and set leeway for the entry of a new board.
SGV and Co. has also been tapped as the human resource (HR) consultant, with transition committee’s Juan explaining that their job will be to determine the appropriate structure and pay scale for the IMO staff and the restructured PEMC.
“This is a milestone for the industry and to me being the Secretary, it happened during my watch and I am happy that I can deliver this. It just happened that I am here, so I thank the transition team and PEMC who worked hard for this,” the energy chief stressed.
Relative to this development, the Department of Energy (DOE) has also firmed up finally and issued a policy that will cement the pathway of the WESM into having an independent market operator or IMO, a long awaited component of the power sector’s reform process.
The DOE has fortified that policy direction via Department Circular No. DC2018-01-0002, which is anchored on: Adopting Policies for the Effective and Efficient Transition to the IMO for the WESM.
The IMO shift will require the incorporation of a new company that will handle the trading and market operations of the electricity spot market.
Meanwhile, the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) will be retained as a corporate entity, but its functions will be streamlined into just the governance body of the spot market.
The WESM, aside from it being the restructured power sector’s price signal setter, serves as an added venue for power generators to sell their un-contracted capacities. And on the part of the distribution utilities and electric cooperatives, it is a market wherein they can buy capacity not covered by their contracts with suppliers.
The WESM also serves as the central registration body (CRB) for retail electricity suppliers (RES) that have been offering supply and services to customers in the so-called contestable market or those segment of end-users that can already exercise their freedom of choice on power supply contracting.
