MORE Power taps cheaper suppliers to ease bill shock

By Francis Allan L. Angelo

MORE Electric and Power Corporation is buying electricity from bilateral suppliers whenever their rates fall below those of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), a strategy it says shields consumers from higher bills.

At present, 62% of its power supply comes from bilateral contracts, while 38% is purchased from the WESM.

MORE Power also opted against staggering its payments to suppliers, a move it said would have triggered a bill shock for consumers the following month.

“Wala sang pagbag-o sa presyo sang aton mga distribution charge sa MORE Power. Ginapabalo man naton nga inclusive na sang tax ang tanan naton nga rates rason nga transparent kita kag wala sang hidden charges sa mga bill nga galab-ot sa tagsa ka mga konsumidor,” said Raphael Dorilag, manager of the Energy Sourcing Department of MORE Power.

The strategy comes as tight power supply in the Visayas weighs heavily on the electricity rates of all distribution utilities in the region.

Because of the low supply, the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) placed the grid under yellow alert several times beginning in May.

A yellow alert means supply is short of demand, which can require a distribution utility to undertake manual load dropping or rotational power interruptions.

Based on the latest data, MORE Power recorded 428,308.60 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of power losses from May 13 to June, affecting 177,727 consumers.

According to the NGCP, the Visayas grid supply fell short because three large coal-fired power plants went on outage.

These were Units 1 and 2 of Aboitiz Power Therma Visayas Inc., each with a capacity of 169 megawatts (MW), and Panay Energy Development Corporation (PEDC) Unit 3, with a capacity of 150 MW.

In total, the plants were unable to supply 488 MW.

In data released by the NGCP on June 23, 16 plants were on forced outage, while only 14 were supplying electricity at derated, or reduced, capacity.

Altogether, the grid was short by 1,073 MW.

Beyond the generation shortfall, a transmission constraint also limited the electricity that could reach the Visayas grid despite supply from Luzon.

According to the NGCP, the capacity of the Leyte-Cebu interconnection is limited in supporting the Cebu-Negros-Panay grid.

The limited supply pushed up prices in the WESM.

The WESM price rose from PHP 4.45 per kWh to PHP 10.30 per kWh, while the generation rate increased by PHP 2.10 per kWh, reaching PHP 7.735 per kWh.

MORE Power said it hopes power supply in the Visayas grid will return to normal soon so that electricity prices in the region can ease.

“Nagapangabay kita nga tani earlier ang ila pagbalik sa grid para at least ma-stabilize man ang presyo sang kuryente diri sa aton sa Visayas Grid. Isa ini sa nakita naton nga big development kun tani para sa kaayuhan sang mga distribution utility kag mismo para sa mga konsumidor ilabi na nga ginapaabot ang El Niño ukon tuman kainit sang panahon nga mangin rason sa posible liwat nga pagtaas sang konsumo sang kuryente,” Dorilag said.

MORE Power likewise urged consumers to use electricity carefully and responsibly, as it remains uncertain when the generation and transmission problems will be resolved.