The average prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market plunged by almost 40 percent in the first week of the 30-day enhanced community quarantine as power demand fell 21 percent, according to the market operator.
The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines, operator of the WESM which serves as the country’s trading floor of electricity, said the actual average prices dropped to P1.64 per kilowatt-hour in the first week of the ECQ (March 15 to 21) from P2.71 per kWh in the week of March 8 to 14.
IEMOP said that from March 15 to 21, the actual WESM average price of P1.64 per kWh was also significantly lower than the forecasted average price of P3.44 per kWh. “This represents a 52.5 percent reduction in average price for the week,” IEMOP said.
It said that in the week of March 8 to 14, WESM average market price already showed a decline to P2.71 per kWh from the forecasted average price of P3.85 per kWh, representing a reduction of 29.5 percent amid the ample supply margin as a result of the reduced demand.
IEMOP said the actual average supply was “generally sufficient,” increasing by 2,084 megawatts from March 15 to 21 as the gap between supply and demand increased.
“Actual supply is generally higher than the forecasted supply since several generators supposedly on outage are available during the period,” it said.
IEMOP said that with the implementation of ECQ in Luzon, the demand from March 15 to 21 fell to an average of 7,252 MW from the forecasted 8,916 MW, representing an 18.7-percent (1,664 MW) reduction on the average.
Comparing the actual average demand between the week of March 8-14 at 9,198 MW and week of March 15-21 at 7,252 MW, demand went down by about 21.2 percent (1,946 MW), IEMOP said.
It said that in the Visayas region, actual demand is almost the same as the forecast and available supply is enough through the period.
IEMOP said, however, that some demand reduction was seen starting March 18.
“Comparing the actual average demand from March 8-14 (1,753 MW) with March 15-21 (1,665 MW), a reduction of about 5 percent (87 MW) can be quantified,” IEMOP said.