The Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines said Tuesday the system-wide average electricity prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market soared to P7.85 per kilowatt-hour as of May 19, up nearly P1 from P6.90 per kWh in April.
The National Grid Corporation of the Philippines placed the grid on yellow alert on Tuesday from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m, and 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. as three plants were on forced outage since 2023, four between January and March 2024 and 11 between April and May 2024. Six plants were also running on lower capacities for a total of 2,075.8-MW unavailable capacity to the grid.A yellow alert is issued when the operating margin is insufficient to meet the transmission grid’s contingency requirement.
Average electricity prices in Mindanao also increased to P6.98 per kWh from P6.43 per kWh last month amid lower power supply and increased demand.