PSALM to start collecting P140B in stranded costs
By Amy R. Remo
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Power consumers may have to brace for possible rate increases next year with the nearing approval of the petition of state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) to collect close to P140 billion worth of stranded debts and contract costs.
Francis Saturnino Juan, executive director of the Energy Regulatory Commission, has confirmed that the commission last week issued an order confirming that the case was ready for final deliberations after the completion of case hearings and other documentation.
“[This means that] any time after today, the case can be deliberated upon and resolved. We don’t have a definite timeline as to when this will happen. We are also cognizant of the fact that PSALM is urgently requesting for the resolution, but we are saddled with cases that are equally important,” Juan said.
Juan added that the ERC has yet to evaluate and deliberate the final amount to be collected from consumers and the length of the collection period.
Should PSALM’s application be approved, consumers can expect to pay another 36 centavos a kilowatt-hour over the next four years and a separate 3 centavos a kWh over a 15-year period to help pay the debts of another government firm, the cash-strapped National Power Corp. (Napocor).
The 36 centavos a kWh that PSALM wanted to pass on to consumers would cover the payment of stranded contract costs (through the universal charge for stranded contract costs or UC-SCC), while the 3 centavos a kWh would be used to settle stranded debts (through the universal charge for stranded debts or UC-SD). With the 39 centavos a kWh from the two charges, PSALM will be able to collect about 25 billion a year to help pay for its outstanding obligations.
PSALM president Emmanuel Ledesma Jr. earlier said that the government agency was hoping to start the collection of universal charges for stranded debts and contract costs from all grid-connected power consumers early next year amid rumors that the ERC would be releasing the decision by January.
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