Stop the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market System

To:  Congress of the Philipines

We the undersigned hereby request the Philippine policy makers, specifically the Congress of the Philippines to repeal the provisions of Section 30 of Republic Act No. 9136, otherwise known as the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001. This mandates the DOE to establish the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) within one year from its effectivity, and formulate the detailed rules for the WESM, jointly with electric power industry participants.

The objectives of this law were supposed to be encouraging and attaining efficiency on the part of the power producers and distributors as well as to benefit large users and household consumers. The mechanism was supposed to be through the balancing of supply and demand for electricity. This has not happened!

Presently, the objectives are not attained. It even resulted in more inefficiencies and raised the prices of electricity in the country! The continuance of WESM shall make the life of the Filipinos more difficult. It is an added burden, especially to the poor!

The present power industry scenario is characterized as a supplier-controlled market. Not many are encouraged to enter the industry because of the many entry barriers - including franchising and environmental regulations, that are both government impositions.

In order that this scheme of power market exchange to operate to the benefit of the consumers, supply must equal or exceed consumers' demand. Without this condition, the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market is a systematic mechanism for ensuring higher prices. WESM is another useless layer in the industry. Logic dictates that another addition to the marketing layer will add to the cost to the consumers.

The recent unwarranted increases in the cost of electricity charged by Meralco was due to the WESM increase in price, according to a local newspaper today http://www.gmanews.tv/story/90856/Meralco-increases-rates-by-nearly-P1/kWh-for-this-month

Increases in the purchase price from WESM by distributors like Meralco will not be uncommon in the near future and could be aggravated if price fixing would occur. This was suspected during its first trial operations.

In view of the already high prices of all commodities prevailing in the country, WESM must be stopped immediately. It does not serve its purpose of reducing the prices of electricity nor making the operations of the power producers/distributors efficient.

Power is a commodity that affects most of the goods consumed and sevices availed by the people. An increase in power cost translates geometrically in the costs of other commodities and services Maawa naman kayo sa mga tao, lalo na kaming nakakaraming mahihirap.

Ito ay panawagan namin sa DOE, Kongreso at Senado ng Pilipinas !

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Stop the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market System Petition to Congress of the Philipines was created by and written by Ramon M. Ignacio (rmignacio@up-alumni.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.