Luzon electricity spot market prices soared in the first half of October to as high as P7.58 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) or an increase of P2.71 per kWh from the September rates due to higher demand and lower supply.
Average electricity prices, however, settled at P6.74 per kWh as of Oct. 28, 2023, subject to pricing corrections, but still P1.87 per kWh higher from the September rates.
Data from the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) showed that available power supply declined from Oct. 1 to 15 to 12,150 megawatts (MW) from 13,307 MW the previous month.
IEMOP operates the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), the trading floor of electricity.
“During the first half of October billing month, supply margin went down from 3,462MW to 2,307MW as a result of planned and forced outages,” IEMOP chief operating officer Robinson Descanzo said.
Descanzo said total outages reached as high as around 6,950MW which were caused by the planned and forced outages of major coal and natural gas plants in Luzon.
He said these incidents resulted to the clearing of high-priced plants (mostly oil-based plants). Demand also inched up to 9,638 MW from 9,377 MW last month.
IEMOP data showed that Visayas electricity prices also went up during the first two weeks of October to P8.49 per kWh from P6.36 per kWh in September despite an increase in available power supply.
Visayas power demand was slightly higher at 1,884 MW from 1,846 MW last month.
Meanwhile, Mindanao electricity prices declined to P4.96 per kWh from P5.71 per kWh in September due to higher available power supply.
Mindanao power supply went up to 3,133 MW from 2,896 MW even as demand also went up to 1,893 MW from 1,827 MW.