Power rates could still increase despite the temporary suspension of the operation of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) when the Luzon and Visayas grids are placed under red alert, the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) said Thursday.

In an online briefing, ERC Chairperson Mona Lisa Dimalanta said the additional cost from power generators could possibly affect electricity costs, especially diesel plants.

“There will be a spike in prices but right now, we cannot estimate how high the surge will be because the prices differ among the 141 distribution utilities in the country,” she said.

“ We know that the fuel from diesel power plants is more expensive. We should pay them because they produced the electricity that we used…the private sector is funding our generation sector and we are not subsidized. The brunt of the cost will really be on us,” she added.

Dimalanta said that there will be a secondary price cap that will limit the electricity cost that distribution utilities will charge if they have not negotiated with their generation suppliers.

She appealed to distribution utilities to prepare for the summer months to have emergency power supply agreements with their suppliers.

“We have utilities that are fully exposed to the WESM. We are appealing to you, don’t do this to yourselves. Don’t do this to your customers. It is your job to negotiate so you do not get exposed to this surge of electricity prices,” Dimalanta said. Jaspearl Tan/DMS