Philippine Electricity Market Corp., operator of the country’s electricity trading floor, is seeking approval from the Energy Regulatory Commission to approve proposed market fees of P822.208 million in 2008.
PEMC, operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, sought the fees in a nine-page petition with the ERC dated October 12. The amount is equal to the funding requirements of PEMC for 2018 as approved by its board.
PEMC said it incorporated in its budget the cost of the preparation and initial operations of the WESM in Mindanao for 2018.
The agency said the bulk of the expenses would go to maintenance and operating outlay of P392.7 million, followed by personnel services covering 160 employees and costing P359.5 million, and capital expenditures amounting to P69.99 million for upgrade.
The petition did not include the cost of the Market Management System procurement still pending with the ERC.
PEMC said it would collect the market fee estimated at P0.0104 per kilowatt-hour from generators.
The indicative market fee rate is based on the Luzon and Visayas energy forecast of 79,262.97 gigawatt-hours.
“It should be noted however that the market fee shall be recovered from Luzon and Visayas generator pending the commencement of the commercial operations of WESM in Mindanao,” it said.
PEMC is currently being managed by a transition committee created by the Energy Department.
Under the department order issued by Energy Secretary Alfonso Cusi, the transition committee would be chaired by lawyer Oscar Ala who will exercise the functions of the PEMC president until one is appointed by the PEMC board.
The transition committee members include Jose Mari Bigornia, National Renewable Energy Board chairman Jose Layug Jr., former Energy Regulatory Commission spokesman Francis Saturnino Juan and former ERC commissioner Raul Tan.
The PEMC is now governed by a new board composed of Cusi as chairman with Ronald Dylan Concepcion, Victor Emmanuel Santos, Emmanuel Rubio, Neeraj Bhat, Deon James, Rolando Cagampan, Octavius Mendoza, Allan Laniba, Noel Aboboto, Jesus Arranza and Peter Wallace as board members.
The transition committee is tasked to assess PEMC’s existing structures, systems, and resources and will propose a way forward for the WESM to meet the challenges ahead.
PEMC, incorporated in 2003, was constituted as the autonomous group market operator to oversee market governance and perform the functions of the market operator in the WESM.