This is AI generated summarization, which may have errors. For context, always refer to the full article.Beyond the question of supply and demand, this is a matter of electing competent and knowledgeable lawmakers to our congressional committees, as well as appointing energy policymakers and regulators who are not confined to simply monitoring and gatekeeping
But let us take a deeper dive than simply citing a theoretical law. This is important. Those impacted run the gamut from victimized households to foreign investors who consider our power costs as a serious detrimental factor against better options offered elsewhere in the region. These concerns are important in the broader context of attracting external equity capital to develop and expand power generating supply; alleviate the pressures of unemployment recently bloated by the adverse impact of the El Niño phenomenon; and the continuing fall of the peso amid high inflation, myopic importation policies that bloat the demand for dollars and other macroeconomic concerns.
In 2013, the shutdown of the Malampaya gas fields forced distribution utilities to purchase the resulting shortfall from the Whole Electricity Spot Market where the laws of supply and demand and its unique margin-pricing protocols invariably compel higher power rates in times of shortages. The following year, the ERC imposed a cap on WESM pricing as a desperate stop-gap measure. The issue was taken to court and in 2022, the Supreme Court nullified the ERC’s imposition of the WESM price cap.
Would it be so hard to ask our energy officials to compute for their baselines and ascertain dependable capacities and against that, further compute for Loss-of-Load-Expectations for both ancillary and market reserves? These computations are normal protocols in other energy jurisdictions except the Philippines.