NPC’s one-day power sales offering 20% cheaper rates
Thursday, September 07, 2006
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
The enhanced one-day power sales (E-ODPS) scheme of state-owned National Power Corporation (NPC) will be offering electricity rates that would be cheaper by up to 20 percent as compared to its time-of-use (TOU) rates.
The bigger discount of 20 percent, according to NPC’s sales and marketing services division, can be availed of in the day-ahead market; or those which will purchase their electricity requirements at least a day prior to dispatch.
Meanwhile, for those who prefer to procure in the month-ahead or year-ahead markets, they can enjoy a rate discount of about 10-percent.
NPC noted that the EODPS will be launched this September 8 and this will serve as an improvement of its existing power sales program; and one of the modifications would be on the bidding being done Internet-based.
Settlements will also be set electronically; and customers will no longer be tied to ‘block periods’ of supply availments; such as the peak and off-peak offers under the existing ODPS program.
Given that this offer is also intended for large customers (those with over 1.0 megawatt of peak demand), it was opined that it will likely affect the viability of the "customer choice program" which was earlier firmed up by NPC and utility giant Manila Electric Company.
If Meralco’s industrial and commercial end-users are to avail of the ‘customer choice’ scheme, which is primarily based on the TOU rates, it was noted that it would still thrive a cheaper option for them to get from the ODPS.
"It would appear that the rates they can avail of under ODPS would be cheaper as compared to the customer choice program because that has been based from the TOU rates," a source from NPC has stressed.
NPC though noted that the CCP can still push through since the one-day power sales scheme is only dependent on whatever surplus capacity they can sell through this bidding scheme.
Initial calculations have placed rate reductions of P0.44 to P0.75 per kilowatt hour (kWh) that customers would be able to enjoy from the NPC-Meralco’s customer choice proposal.
Meanwhile, the ODPS corners about 30 percent of the embedded industrial and commercial customers of Meralco and also caters to directly-connected customers.
It has been explained that since the program is to be offered only on an ‘as available basis’; there might be extra capacity to be traded in times of low or negative reserves.
This means that NPC can only sell the capacity that is in excess of the 13.1 percent reserve requirement (of the system peak demand) specified by the Philippine Grid Code.
posted by philpower @ 2:21 PM,
