Detecting and measuring market power in the Philippine wholesale electricity market

Abstract

During the first quarter of commercial operation of the Philippine wholesale electricity market, an unexpected surge in clearing prices led to an investigation of public utilities accused of collusion. The paper examines the regulatory response to the first antitrust case in the electricity market. Using actual offers submitted by generators to the market operator and applying a variant of competitive benchmark analysis, the paper traces the price surge to strategic bidding and capacity withholding by public generators.

Classification-JEL: L32, L44, L94