WESM-Visayas now trades at a rate of 2,000 megawatts

CEBU, Philippines - Following the formal commercial operation of the Wholesale Electricity Sport Market (WESM-Visayas), the facility is now trading at a rate of close to 2,000 megawatts, available for wholesale power consumers in the region.

WESM, operated by Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), is now operating with increasing number of registered participants, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management (PSALM) Corporation, Green Core Geothermal Inc., Cebu Energy Development Corporation (CEDC), KepCo, Cebu Private Power Corporation (CPPC), Salcon Power, and Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC).

PEMC head for corporate planning and communications department Robinson D. Descanzo said that a growing number of participants are now registering into the spot market, while wholesale electricity consumers are also starting to appreciate the benefits of sourcing power requirement from the facility.

Although the additional megawatt added through the WESM cannot sustain the long term requirement for the entire Visayas, Descanzo said it is enough to aid the shortage of supply especially in Cebu for the meantime.

“Unlike six months ago, that the Visayas grid was out of capacity, now the Visayas Grid has a reserved of 200 megawatt,” he said.

Descanzo, together with Jesusito H. Sulit, PEMC vice president for trading operations, and other officials from WESM and PEMC was in Cebu to re-introduce the WESM process to wholesale consumers, and media.

According to Descanzo wholesale consumers participating at the WESM-Visayas is also increasing, including already the largest power distribution company the Visayas Electric Company (VECO), and electric cooperatives within the region.

WESM allows buyers and suppliers to trade electricity as a commodity that will invite interested power facility investors to open plants, where is it needed, as the electricity spot market will show the real demand and supply of power.

Electricity consumers on the other hand, will not feel the impact of the spot market in the short term, as 97 percent of the 1,065-mega-watt average peak demand in the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid is covered by bilateral contracts.

The WESM was created by Republic Act (R.A) 9136 or the Electric Power

Industry Reform Act (EPIRA). This provided for the establishment of an electricity market that reflects the actual cost of electricity and lowers its price through more efficient production through competition

In an earlier interview with Sebastian Lacson, chief reputation officer (CRO) of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV)-the mother company of VECO, he said that WESM commercial operation in the Visayas has largely helped Cebu’s unstable power supply problem in the last few months.

“You see we don’t have frequent brown outs anymore. The existence of WESM here has helped a lot,” said Sebastian Lacson, chief reputation officer (CRO) of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV)—the mother company of the Visayan Electric Company (VECO).

According to Lacson the greatest advantage of WESM is “when we need power—we have it.”

Although sometimes WESM’s power can be so costly, but it is better to have expensive power than no power at all, he said.

“The most expensive power is the one that is not available,” Lacson said. (FREEMAN)