WESM operator eyes market enhancements for retail aggregation
The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), will be enforcing enhancements in its registration system to open power retail aggregation to a broader end-user coverage.
The electricity market operator said it is “currently reviewing its processes and the needed system enhancements to accommodate and facilitate retail aggregation.”
This followed after the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) recently declared that aggregation in the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) policy of the power industry will formally kick off by December 26 this year.
Within the prescribed threshold of 500 kilowatts (kW), power consumers within a contiguous or proximate areas can already pool or aggregate their demand so they can secure their power needs via retail electricity suppliers (RES) in the RCOA platform of the power industry.
Within that policy scope, the end-users joining retail aggregation in the power market will already be classified as "contestable customers", meaning they belong to the segment of end-users who can already directly negotiate and underwrite power supply contracts with their preferred suppliers.
“This scheme will allow end-users to aggregate their demand and participate as a contestable customer in RCOA and enjoy the benefit of choosing their supply of electricity offering competitive rates and value-adding services,” IEMOP noted.
The WESM operator is the central registration body (CRB) for the RCOA participants; and it also acts as the entity that will process ‘supplier switching applications’ of the qualified customers in the retail market.
According to the ERC, the type of customers that can participate in retail aggregation will include: subdivisions; villages; business districts; special economic zones; condominium buildings; commercial establishments such as malls; mixed-use development complexes; and other similarly-situated establishments that are adjacent to each other.
Most of the customers in the RCOA space have been citing lower rates, as well as improved services, as the main attraction for them when it comes to switching on their electricity suppliers.
Further, the environment-caring customers can also opt for a clean energy source of the electricity that will be supplied to their homes or businesses – and they can avail that either through RCOA or Green Energy Option Program (GEOP), which is the other government-underpinned program that grants ‘power of choice’ to the consumers.