THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said it has put on hold until March decisions on several ancillary service procurement agreements (ASPA) submitted by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines (NGCP) and its potential suppliers.
“Given the pending issues that needed to be addressed, the matter has been deferred for further deliberation,” the ERC said in a notice of commission action posted on its website.
Among the 19 ASPAs pending ERC decision are NGCP deals with Masinloc Power Partners Co. Ltd., a unit of San Miguel Global Power Holdings Corp.; Ingrid Power Holdings, Inc., an arm of ACEN Corp., and Aboitiz Power Corp.’s Therma Luzon, Inc.
These ASPAs were signed in the wake of a competitive bidding exercise in 2023.
ASPA suppliers are on standby to provide power to the grid when regular sources prove inadequate. They are intended to stabilize the supply available to the grid.
Asked to comment, ERC Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer Monalisa C. Dimalanta said some data remains pending from the technical team before deliberations can wrap up.
“We will finalize this early March,” she said.
Ms. Dimalanta said that the delays will have no impact on the reliability of power services.
“We do not see the deferral affecting power reliability since we have good level of reserves also available on the Reserve Market at this time,” she said.
The reserve market allows the system operator to buy power reserves from the wholesale electricity spot market — the trading floor for electricity — to meet the reserve requirements of the energy system.
Reserves are needed to maintain balance in the power system to ensure normal frequency and voltage levels in response to demand changes, variability of renewable energy, and a possible loss of a large generating unit.
Last year, the ERC capped the price for the power reserve market at P25 per kilowatt-hour.
The full commercial operations of the reserve market started in January 2024. — Sheldeen Joy Talavera