PSALM receivables still at P135 B
By Myrna M. Velasco – Updated September 16, 2019, 11:04 AM
from Manila Bulletin
The receivables of state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. from distribution utilities, generation companies as well as universal charges, are still whopping at P135.59 billion based on the 2018 financial statement dispensed by the Commission on Audit.
As stipulated in the COA report, the bulk or P78.194 billion set for collection by the state-owned company would be receivables from power utilities reckoned as of end-December 2017. These comprise of P57.156 billion dues of distribution utilities; P15.294 billion from electric cooperatives; and P5.458 billion from industry-clients.
On its logged power receivables, PSALM set out a provision for bad debts at the scale of P41.153 billion. As explained, the power receivables pertain to “trade receivables for power generation charges, including ancillary service charges and power receivables net of refunds to customers resulting from ERC (Energy Regulatory Commission) decisions.”
In the league of the power generation companies (GenCos), the total amount they owed PSALM had been estimated at P27.222 billion, the biggest amount of which is due to its dispute with South Premiere Power Corp. (SPPC) on the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan gas-fired power facility.
“The bulk of the account receivables-generation payments is due from SPPC, with P18.584 billion already past due,” PSALM has stated, emphasizing that “the overdue amount arose from disputed terms and differences in interpretation of certain provisions of the IPPA Administration Agreement.”
SPPC, which is a subsidiary of San Miguel Corp., is the IPP administrator of the Ilijan plant – or the entity that took charge of selling and trading its capacity upon the privatization of its power supply agreement in 2010.
Aside from the Ilijan plant receivables, PSALM similarly reported past due accounts for generation payments from Good Friends Hydro Resources Corp. for P1.064 billion; FDC Utilities Inc. for P775.136 million; and FDC Misamis Power Corp. for P1.027 billion, which the company claimed were all declared “to be in default and had their contracts with PSALM terminated on August 10, September 4 and December 22, 2017.”
PSALM also booked P239.011 million receivables from Vivant Sta Clara Northern Generation Corp. (VSCNGC), but it qualified that “this is a subject of a pending case with the Cebu City for corporate rehabilitation.”
Previously booked receivables from PHINMA Energy Corp. at P322.323 million had already been settled, according to PSALM.
The company further registered P30.179 billion in universal charges due for collection; although part of that already flowed into its revenue stream last year.
On its receivables from privatized IPP power supply contracts, this has been placed at P35.363 billion – with fraction of payments already remitted last year and on the initial months of 2019. These refer to the monthly payments of the IPP administrators “at fixed amounts based on an agreed amortization schedule representing their payment for the administration of the IPP plant.”
The power plants already placed under the charge of the IPP administrators include the Sual, Pagbilao, San Roque, Bakun, Ilijan, Mt Apo I and II and the Unified Leyte generating facilities.
