PSALM seeks $3.3B from IPPs

MANILA, Philippines - The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), the government agency overseeing the privatization of state-owned power assets, is still pursuing talks with power players for the prepayment of $3.3 billion fees to the government.

These receivables come from the contracts of independent power producers (IPPs) which the government privatized, said PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr.

 PSALM has been in talks with the country’s biggest power players such as San Miguel Corp. and Aboitiz Power Corp. for the possible prepayment of their fees to the government.

San Miguel’s fee is about $2 billion while that of Aboitiz amounts to around  $1 billion, Ledesma said.

PSALM said the prepayment of IPP administrator or IPPA receivables could strengthen its financial position.

So far, PSALM has generated $3.3 billion from the privatization of the IPP contracts but only around $495 million have been collected.

San Miguel earlier won the bidding to manage the IPP contracts of the 1,000-megawatt Sual coal-fired power plant, 345 -MW San Roque hydro power plant and the 1,200-MW Ilijan power plant.

AboitizPower, meanwhile, manages the contract of the 700-MW Pagbilao coal plant in Quezon.

PSALM earlier generated P57.8 billion from National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), the country’s from  grid operator, as prepayment of its concession fees last year.