The price of electricity across the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) fell in August even though demand pushed higher during the period, preliminary data reported by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) on Tuesday show.
According to the IEMOP, the price per kilowatt hour (kWh) across WESM averaged P5.94 or 0.4 percent lower than in July when this averaged P5.97 per kWh.
The IEMOP noted demand for the period actually went up 1.4 percent to 14,186 megawatts (MW) from 13,989 MW even as supply also increased 4.5 percent to 19,718 MW from 18,867 MW.
“Despite the increase in demand, available supply is higher for this specific billing period. Hence, there is a wider supply margin mainly because the hydro power plants’ contribution has increased from 6.7 percent to 10 percent,” the IEMOP said in a statement.
As of 25 August, the price per kWh in Luzon averaged P6.24 or 5.5 percent higher than in July of only P5.92 per kWh.
In the Visayas, however, WESM prices stood P6.93 or 7.6 percent lower than in July, averaging P7.50 per kWh while WESM prices in Mindanao averaged P3.37, also lower by 27.8 percent than P4.67 per kWh in July.
