WESM prices surge in March amid forced outages ahead of summer

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The hot summer season is indeed approaching as the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP) reported a spike in wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) prices in March.

IEMOP data on Thursday, April 3, revealed that the average WESM price last month stood at ₱5.34 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), which is higher by 95.5 percent than the ₱2.73/kWh in February.

System average data further revealed a drop in supply and a spike in demand.
Average supply went down from 20,512 megawatts (MW) to 19,611 MW. According to IEMOP, the supply decline was driven by forced outages and power plant derations during the month.

The yellow alert, which was issued last March 5, was also a factor in the shift in WESM’s supply-demand situation. Yellow alerts are usually announced when there is an imbalance between supply and demand, which could potentially result in rotating brownouts.

Meanwhile, nationwide demand in March climbed by 5.9 percent to 12,904 MW to 13,670 MW.

Luzon and Visayas also experienced a decrease in supply during the month. Luzon’s power supply dropped from 14,475 MW to 13,530 MW, while supply in Visayas decreased by 1.3 percent, from 2,397 MW to 2,365 MW.

Luzon’s demand jumped by seven percent to 9,713 MW, which is a little over 40 percent of the Department of Energy’s (DOE) 2025 peak demand forecast for the northern region, at 14,769 MW.

In March, Luzon’s spot market prices surged by nearly 103 percent to ₱5.50/kWh.
Visayas’ demand inched up to 1,913 MW, which is around 47 percent of the government’s projection for the central region’s peak demand, at 3,111 MW.

Visayas’ spot market price for March was recorded at about ₱5.48/kWh, higher by 95.5 percent compared to its rate in February of ₱2.81/kWh.

Mindanao, on the other hand, saw a slight uptick in its supply, from 3,640 MW to 3,716 MW, as its demand also rose by 4.5 percent, from 1,956 MW to 2,044 MW.

The southern region’s latest demand is 30 percent, near the DOE’s peak demand forecast of 2,789 MW.

WESM price for Mindanao in March rose by 61.3 percent, from ₱2.72/kWh to ₱4.39/kWh.