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Electricity prices in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) fell in January, led by steep declines in the Visayas and Mindanao, as lower demand offset reduced supply across the country, according to the Independent Electricity Market Operator of the Philippines (IEMOP).
System-wide average WESM prices dropped by 18.6 percent to ₱3.56 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) in January from ₱4.38 per kWh in December. The lower spot market rates are expected to be reflected in consumers’ generation charges for the current billing period.
Visayas And Mindanao Drive Overall Price Drop
Power prices in the Visayas dropped by 41.2 percent to ₱4.24 per kWh from ₱7.22 per kWh in December. IEMOP data showed that average demand in the region declined by 5.9 percent to 1,861 megawatts (MW), while supply also fell by 6.4 percent to 2,361 MW. The drop in demand was sufficient to ease price pressures despite lower available capacity.
Mindanao recorded an even sharper decline, with WESM prices plunging by 45.5 percent to ₱4.27 per kWh from ₱7.82 per kWh a month earlier. The decrease was attributed to lower demand, which slipped to 2,056 MW from 2,137 MW in December, alongside higher supply that rose to 3,563 MW from 3,287 MW.
Isidro Cacho Jr., IEMOP vice president and head of trading operations, said the lower costs were positive for consumers outside Luzon. “Overall, this is good news for our distribution utilities and electric cooperatives and consumers, especially in the Visayas and Mindanao, because their costs were lower for the period,” he told reporters, noting that cooler weather contributed to reduced demand nationwide.
Luzon Prices Rise Amid Tighter Supply
In contrast, average WESM prices in Luzon increased by nine percent to ₱3.25 per kWh from ₱2.98 per kWh in December, driven by tighter supply margins caused by forced outages of coal- and natural gas-fired power plants.
Average supply in Luzon fell by about eight percent to around 13,228–13,288 MW from 14,422 MW, while demand also declined to 8,574 MW from 9,324 MW in the previous month. Despite lower demand, the sharper contraction in supply pushed prices higher in the region.
Supply-Demand Trends
Nationwide, average supply declined by 5.3 percent to 19,152 MW in January from 20,233 MW in December. Demand fell more sharply, down 7.1 percent to 12,492 MW from 13,440 MW, allowing overall WESM prices to ease despite continued plant outages in Luzon and the Visayas.
Looking ahead to the summer months, Cacho said supply-demand conditions are expected to improve compared to last year, citing the Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval of a contract extension between Manila Electric Co. and a major gas facility in Batangas, as well as the entry of new power plants.
However, he cautioned that yellow and red alerts remain possible as electricity demand typically rises during hotter weather.
Source:
https://www.philstar.com/business/2026/02/05/2505735/power-spot-prices-ease-january
https://www.philstar.com/nation/2026/01/21/2502362/visayas-grid-under-yellow-alert
