PSALM seeks clearance to refund LuzMin customers

MANILA, Philippines — The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) is seeking clearance to refund Luzon and Mindanao, but charge Visayas customers due to the impact of fuel and purchased power cost as well as foreign exchange-related cost last year.

PSALM has filed with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) its ninth application for the true-up adjustments of fuel and purchased power costs and foreign exchange-related costs covering January to December 2018.

In its application, the state-run firm is asking the power regulator to approve its proposal to refund P10.16 million to Luzon customers and P3.21 billion to Mindanao customers.

This is equivalent to a reduction of P1.2986 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) and P0.6953 per kwh in the basic generation charge (BGC) to Luzon and Mindanao customers, respectively.

However, PSALM is seeking to recover P32.8 million from customers in Visayas, equivalent to an increase of P0.7040 per kwh in the BGC component in electricity bills.

The said amounts are proposed to be refunded and recovered for a period of one year, once approved by the ERC.

The BGC is an ERC-approved generation rate imposed by National Power Corp./PSALM for the sale of electric energy to its customers with transition supply contract (TSC) or contract for the supply of electric energy (CSEE).

In Luzon and Mindanao, PSALM billed its TSC and CSEE customers more than the actual allowable fuel and purchased power costs during the period.

But in Visayas, the amount charged to its customers had a shortfall to cover the actual allowable fuel and purchased power costs.

During the period covered, PSALM said there were no fuel purchase costs across its assets in the three power grids since the Malaya Thermal Power Plant in Luzon – its only remaining fuel-based plant – is designated as a must-run unit in the wholesale electricity spot market.

Meanwhile, the state-run firm purchased power from independent power producers to be able to serve its customers.

As for the foreign exchange-related costs, PSALM incurred P1.46 million in Luzon, P889,710.68 in Visayas, and P62.88 million in Mindanao.

The fuel and purchased power costs and foreign exchange-related costs were combined in computing the total true-up adjustment.