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COMMERCIAL operations of the Philippines’ energy
spot market in the Visayas area has been pushed back, according to
its operator.
Lasse A. Holopainen, Philippine
Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) president, said the start of the
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas has been
moved to give participants more time to complete registration and
test their market trading interface systems. The Visayas leg was
supposed to start January 26.
Due to the delay, PEMC will
instead extend its mock operations in the region through its Live
Dispatch Operation, which will run for at least two weeks, to
determine the readiness of the market participants and their
respective systems to operate in a commercial environment.
Mandated under the Electric Power
Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001, the WESM was established as a
venue for trading electricity to bring down the cost of the
resource, which is one of the most expensive in Asia.
The Energy Regulatory Commission
(ERC) and PEMC recently signed a memorandum of agreement delineating
their respective roles in cases of anticompetitive behavior at WESM.
Under the deal, the regulatory
body has full jurisdiction over anticompetitive behavior while PEMC
investigates breaches of the market’s rules.
Last year, the ERC cleared
state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. of
allegations of price rigging at the WESM despite positive findings
by the PEMC.
--Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo
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