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The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) held off the scheduled resumption of the reserve market operations this month pending the final determination of a new price range that a generation company can offer.
In an interview, ERC chairperson Monalisa Dimalanta said ongoing discussions surrounding the price floor and ceiling may potentially influence the anticipated timeline for resuming the reserves market.
“The resumption may be a longer discussion because there are various comments, I think as of yesterday, we have already tracked more than 100 comments from stakeholders so it may take long to sort this out,” Dimalanta said.
“It looks like it will be a long discussion which may impact the timeline for the reserve market resumption. We wanted that only when we have the offer floor and price cap. We will not resume this without those elements in place,” she added.
No spike in bills
Previously, the ERC assured power consumers that the planned resumption of the reserves market operations would not result in a spike in electricity prices.
According to Dimalanta, the Commission will also discuss strategies to mitigate the impact of reserve market charges on consumers, aiming to minimize potential financial shocks.
In March, the ERC ordered both the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. and the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines Inc. (IEMOP) to suspend the implementation of a section on billing and settlement of the price determination methodology (PDM) for the implementation of the co-optimized energy and reserve market in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
The suspension covered the March billing but the suspension stays until the ERC finalizes its evaluation of the PDM used by IEMOP.
The ERC had granted interim relief in August 2023 for implementing the then-proposed PDM.
The energy regulator also highlighted the need to assess the outcome of the then-ongoing trial operations program for the reserve market, stressing the importance of the audit of the PDM.
