ERC halts Luzon, Visayas DUs from charging consumers based on WESM preliminary bills

ERC

The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has issued an order directing all Distribution Utilities in the Luzon and Visayas Grids to delay charging their consumers the generation charge until the Final Statement (FS) is released by the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP).

In a statement, ERC shared that the delay will guarantee that the DU bills its customers accurately for the amounts associated with its purchases from the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM). 

Earlier, the ERC suspended the market operations for the Luzon and Visayas grids after a barrage of Red and Yellow Alerts in May.

During the market shutdown periods, the Administered Price or the Secondary Price Cap (SPC) was applied.

The Commission observed that the preliminary statement is still subject to final changes after assessing the effects of the AP and SPC applications. 

The predicted WESM charges under the FS were expected to be substantially lower than those shown in the PS.