Which is faster on the draw than Cupid’s arrow that can steal the ‘thrill of romance’ on Valentine’s Day? Electricity consumption! Wait, what?!

Alright, so you’ve already spent for your dreamy dates, chocolates and roses. Well, watch out next for your electric bills – it could flutter or take a race that could go as fast as your heartbeat.

Based on data culled from the outcome of trading at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM), power usage had been on ramp up last Valentine’s Day with demand clambering up to 12,557megawatts; and it hit an overdrive of 13,061MW on February 15, or roughly 500MW demand hike on the post-V Day scramble.

Hmmm … so far, industry experts don’t have concrete explanation yet on the ‘mystery’ of that higher power consumption trend on February 15 – except for a convenient excuse of it being a salary day and people might have heftier cash to shell out at the time.

On prior days, system demand on February 13 was already on its acceleration mode at 12,211MW; but it was still extensively leaner by about 1,000MW from 11,263MW as of Monday (February 12).

On the rate impact sphere, spot settlement prices had climbed higher to average P4.395 per kilowatt hour (kWh) in the Luzon grid; P4.499 per kWh in the Visayas grid and P4.387 per kWh in Mindanao on February 15; while prices were relatively tamed at average P3.197 per kWh for Luzon, P3.161 per kWh for Visayas and P3.638 per kWh for Mindanao last February 14.

According to WESM operator Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP), Valentine’s Day has always been monitored in the spot market as among the events in a year logging uptick in energy demand – apart from the typical peak during summer months or the previous fights of boxing champ Manny Pacquiao.

In the past five years, the spot market conveyed that Valentine’s Day had always been a ‘high power consumption day’ – although that tapered off at the height of the Covid-19 lockdowns in 2021, when most families are bored-trapped at homes because of the global health crisis.

The historical narrative of Valentine’s Day electricity demand had been highest so far in 2023 at 13,853MW; and it was also comparatively high at 11,671MW in 2022 when lockdowns started easing up and lowest was in 2021 at 9,767MW.

On a ‘heart’s day’ in 2020, or weeks before people were locked up at homes due to the pandemic, consumption was also at a record-level of 11,620MW.

Inherently, as electricity consumption rises, the conversation may likewise extend toward environmental footprints – suffice it to say that all of that ‘high energy romance’ will not just be melting hearts, but it’s also about melting ice caps.

By far, that is the ‘Energy 101’ in the economics and language of love – it will come at a cost not just to your wallets but also for the planet!