With much-anticipated low availability of the relatively cheaper hydro plants because of the El Niño-thumped summer months, the Department of Energy (DoE) is now working on contingency measures to prevent unprecedented price spikes at the spot market and even worse cases of power interruptions.

Planning and crafting of responses, it was gathered is being coordinated with the industry players as well as with the Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC), the operator of the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).

“DoE is now trying to get inputs from attached agencies to get the whole picture. After which contingency plan will have to be adopted,” PEMC president Melinda L. Ocampo bared.

It must be noted that in years when there were scant generation from hydro plants, Luzon grid in particular suffered from price shocks at the spot market and power interruptions ensued. Of course, such dilemma then was worsened by lack of fuel for plants that were supposed to run baseload -- chiefly the coal plants.

Had not been for the ‘electricity price softening’ policy intervention of the Energy Regulatory Commission, the Filipino consumers would have excruciatingly shouldered those high prices, even if they were partly wrought by inefficiencies.

Hydro power generators are similarly planning for the strike of the El Nino phenomenon, which the weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) predicted to be coming longer and earlier than the usual course of the summer months.