After more than a month, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has finally lifted the enforced “market suspension” for the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) in the Visayas grid following last December’s battering of Typhoon Odette.

The spot market suspension for Visayas was declared on Dec. 16, 2021 at 7:42pm, following the landfall of Typhoon Odette which then walloped several areas in the Visayas island.

The lifting was just directed by the ERC on Monday, Jan. 17, at 10:01am trading interval in the spot market, except for Bohol. Fundamentally, that WESM development came roughly a month and one day after the implementation of the disaster-induced market suspension.

According to ERC Chairperson Agnes T. Devanadera, the regulatory body has been “closely monitoring and assessing the Visayas grid condition and upon assessment of the information gathered...the Commission views that market operations in the Visayas grid, except Bohol, are now ready to resume.”

To arrive at that decision, the ERC qualified that it has been in constant coordination with the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) and the market operator of the WESM as well as with system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines.

“We have issued the notice of market resumption to the PEMC-market operator, and they were directed to advise the trading participants and the National Grid Corporation-Visayas System Operator of the said resumption,” Devanadera said.

The industry regulator explained that the WESM suspension for Visayas was a necessary step to be taken following the onslaught of last year’s strongest typhoon, because the turn of events and the scale of damage and disruption suffered in several areas in the island had really distorted power market fundamentals.

With market suspension, it is expected that an administered price will have to be calculated and instituted for the settlement of capacities in trading intervals that had been affected when WESM-Visayas has not been functioning.

“The suspension was necessitated by the power system disturbance due to the impact of typhoon Odette, causing the breach of Section 1.B, Article II of the ERC Resolution No. 12, series of 2018, indicating over-generation,” the Commission expounded.

Conversely, the ERC noted that Section 1.B, Article IV of the same resolution prescribes that “if there is improvement in the loading level for 24 consecutive hours – in relation to the conditions of market suspension – then market operations can resume.”

The ERC narrated that based on its monitoring and coordination with relevant stakeholders, it was able to establish that “loading level in Visayas, outside Bohol, has improved” starting Jan. 10.

The regulatory body similarly stated that the energization of the 138-kilovolt (kV) Colon-Calung-calung line 2 and the 138kV Colon-Cebu line 3, enabled market-based instructions for implementation, hence, “signaling the readiness to resume market operations in Visayas” with the exception of Bohol.

The ERC emphasized that “Bohol continues to be disconnected from the rest of the grid and it may experience possible generation deficiency since generation from other regions cannot be exported to the island.”