THE Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said on Wednesday it temporarily halted the billing and the settlement of amounts in the ancillary or reserves market.

In an order dated March 26, 2024, the ERC directed the Philippine Electricity Market Corp. (PEMC) and the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines Inc. (Iemop) to suspend the implementation of Section 8 on the Billing and Settlement of the Price Determination Methodology (PDM) of the co-optimized energy and reserve market in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.

According to the ERC, the reason for the temporary suspension is that the PEMC and Iemop have yet to submit the results of the software audit used for the running of the co-optimized market, together with reports of increased electricity prices in March.

"We were initially encouraged by the fact that the Reserve Market was able to unveil reserve capacities that, for one reason or another, did not contract with or participate in the Ancillary Services Competitive Selection Process conducted by the National Grid Corp. of the Philippines," said ERC Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Monalisa Dimalanta.

ERC Chairman Monalisa Dimalanta. PHOTO: MIKE ALQUINTO

In August 2023, the ERC granted an Interim Relief for the implementation of the then proposed PDM as it highlighted the need to assess the outcome of the then-ongoing Trial Operations Program for the Reserve Market.

These included findings and recommendations from PEMC and Iemop for the final evaluation and eventual approval of the proposed software for running the co-optimized market.