The partial lifting of the suspension on settlement amounts in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market’s Reserve Market to allow power generators partially recover costs for trading transactions for the March billing may cause an average of additional 10 centavos for the transmission charge under ancillary services, according to the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP).
NGCP said the impact on customers will vary per distribution utility and electric cooperative.
In a separate statement, Joe Zaldarriaga, Manila Electric Co. vice president and head of corporate communications, said the company is yet to determine the actual rate impact of the decision of the Energy Regulatory Commission but will be reflected in the ancillary services component of the transmission charge in the June bill.
“For the overall adjustment, we still have to consider the movement on the generation charge which is still the single biggest rate component,” Zaldarriaga said.
Meanwhile, cooler temperatures saved Luzon grid from any power alert but the Visayas grid was again placed under yellow alert as of 9:15 a.m. yesterday.
Yellow alert was raised in the Visayas Grid yesterday from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. and from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m. as 17 power plant units went down and five more with de-rated capacities. Total unavailable capacity of 515.1 megawatts (MW).
Yellow alerts are issued when the level of power reserve in the grid is low and power interruptions are not yet imminent.
NGCP said available capacity in the Visayas Grid was only 2,926 MW against a peak demand of 2,596 MW.
Cynthia Alabanza, NGCP spokesperson, said in a briefing the power situation is not “out of the woods” citing there is still a need for the entry of additional baseload power plants.
