In the realm of much-anticipated structural changes in the energy sector, it is Philippine Electricity Market Corporation (PEMC) president Melinda L. Ocampo who is secure enough in her post given the mandate she has gotten from the company’s board.

With her continued stint, Ocampo will also assume a critical task of transitioning the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) into an independent market operator (IMO) or the private sector entity that will eventually oversee the operations of the spot market.

“On the PEMC side, I am of the opinion that I would like to shift to the IMO model already,” Energy Secretary Rene D. Almendras said. Incidentally, the WESM is marking its fourth year anniversary this week since it was instituted as a component of the restructured power market in June 2006.

As far as Ocampo’s reinstatement as PEMC president, the energy chief noted “there’s a governing board for that, so I want to respect that,” referring to her re-election for another year.

With prospects of finally engaging an IMO for the WESM, Almendras stressed that “I would like to transform the board into the IMO, that government will already step aside… the mechanism we’re looking at right now is how to get that Board elected or how to get that independent market operator be set into place.”

As to the timeframe, he qualified “I hope to do it within this year. The ADB (Asian Development Bank) is actually funding a consultancy group that is going to advise us on how to execute that IMO as soon as possible.”

It must be noted that Ocampo ran to ADB last year to secure technical assistance funding for a study on the IMO appointment for WESM. The evaluation of proposals are expected to be concluded September this year.

The shift to IMO is one of the most awaited developments in the industry as government intervention at times have been distorting important market signals which could have been the investors’ basis on assessing their investment plans.

At the other DoE-attached agencies and government-owned and controlled corporations (GOCCs), Almendras noted that their stint will be extended until October 31 this year or until their replacements are named.

“For TransCo (National Transmission Corporation), NPC (National Power Corporation) and PSALM (Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation), they will be on acting capacity, that means they can be replaced at anytime that we feel they need to be replaced,” he stressed.