Roilo Golez, Committee on Energy, House of Representatives, 11 Oct. 2011-1

Power producers overpaid by $10 B
By Jess Diaz (The Philippine Star) Updated October 12, 2011 12:00 AM Comments (23)

MANILA, Philippines - Electricity producers in the country have been overpaid by as much as $10 billion (P440 billion) over the past 10 years, Parañaque Rep. Roilo Golez revealed yesterday.

"$10 billion can build us at least 10 power plants of 1,000 megawatts each, enough to supply the country's electricity requirements," he told his colleagues in the House energy committee.

Citing studies, Golez said another $10 billion in overpayments would be pocketed by independent power producers (IPPs) contracted by the government during the Ramos administration if the contracts are not changed.

Representatives of the Department of Energy and the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) admitted there are still excess payments but had no idea of their magnitude.

They said overpayment is the difference between the price the government pays the IPPs based on their contracts and the prevailing market price of electricity.

They said the IPPs' average price is P20 per kilowatt-hour (kwh), while it is only P3 for other producers, or a difference of P17.

Upon motion of Golez and Rep. Teddy Casiño of the party-list group Bayan Muna, the energy committee voted to ask Malacañang, the Department of Energy and PSALM to renegotiate the 19 IPP contracts.

The committee also decided to request PSALM to withdraw in the meantime its four petitions for power rate increase totaling P4.88 per kwh. The petitions are pending with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC).

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• congressman
• paranaque
• ipp
• independent
• power
• producers

[sft219]

wla akong masabi kung di TANG ina niyong lahat me KARMA rin kayo!!!!!