The receivables of state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) from a subsidiary-company of San Miguel Corporation for the capacity payments of the 1,200-megawatt Ilijan gas-fired power plant had been pared to P21.871 billion, as stipulated in the company’s 2020 audited financial statement recently issued by the Commission of Audit.
That scale of receivables of the government-run firm from South Premiere Power Corporation (SPPC), a subsidiary of SMC Global Power Holdings Corp., had been pared from P27.308 billion in 2019.
Because of the reduced receivables of PSALM from SPPC, it was shown that the overall collections the state-run firm has been pursuing from Independent Power Producers (IPPs) as well as with the IPP Administrators (IPPAs) had already been down to P25.720 billion as of end-December 2020; or roughly P7.0 billion lower from P32.504 billion in the previous year.
Aside from SPPC, the other PSALM receivables are with: Good Friends Hydro Resources Corp. for P1.064 billion; FDC Misamis Power Corporation for P1.027 billion; Vivant Sta. Clara Northern Renewables Gen Corp. at P576.972 million; Therma Luzon Inc. for P484.721 million; and Unified Leyte Geothermal Energy Inc. for P321.271 million.
The others are with: Strategic Power Development Corporation for receivables amounting to P94.895 million; Waterfront Mactan Casino Hotel Inc. at P84.917 million; and Vivant Energy Corporation for P1.066 million.
The power companies that already settled their financial obligations with PSALM as of reckoning date last year had been Aboitiz Energy Solutions Inc.; and FDC Utilities Inc., a subsidiary of Filinvest Development Corporation of the Gotianun group.
For the Ilijan plant, in particular, it was noted that as of the audit date of PSALM’s 2020 financial statement, the amount past due 60 days had been placed at P19.566 billion; while the rest had been current dues -- entailing then that those amounts could be for payment by early months of 2021.
PSALM qualified that P4.622 billion SPPC past dues had been computed from June 26, 2010 to December 25, 2012; while P9.896 billion added up from December 26, 2012 to December 31, 2020. The value added tax (VAT) charges of such receivables had been calculated at P4.804 billion.
The past due receivables from SPPC, according to PSALM, have been the subject of dispute cases between the two companies that are still pending at the Courts.
SMC offered P20 billion worth of advance payments to the capacity charges for the Ilijan plant in 2020, but that was rejected by the Department of Finance (DOF), as announced by SMC in February this year.
Despite the deadlock, SMC indicated its willingness to “continue its discussion with government” to resolve the issues and concerns relating to the differing interpretations of the two firms on the capacity payments that must be made for the IPPA deal on the Ilijan plant.
The build-operate-transfer (BOT) arrangement for the Ilijan power facility will expire by July next year, but there is no definitive statement from PSALM yet if the facility will be turned over to SPPC at the lapse of the contract.