Review sought on PSALM sale of power assets

A consumer group has asked the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to assess and evaluate the privatization of government-owned power assets being conducted by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).

In a letter to the WB and ADB, the National Association of Electricity Consumers for Reforms (Nasecore) noted that, despite the government’s privatization effort, the cost of electricity continues to increase, thus “putting consumers at a loss.”

WB and ADB are major creditors of the state-run National Power Corp. (Napocor), which owns the power generation assets.

PSALM is a government-owned and -controlled corporation that has been created by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001 to manage the sale and privatization of Napocor generation assets, real estate and other disposable assets.

“PSALM claims success in its ongoing privatization effort as far as being able to optimize the value of the Napocor assets” is concerned, Nasecore president Pete Ilagan said.

But PSALM and Napocor had recently filed an application with the Energy Regulatory Commission seeking to increase power generation rates due to financial difficulty.
Napocor and PSALM want to increase its effective rates in Luzon by 17.20 centavos per kilowatt-hour (kWh) and in Visayas, by P2.0207/kWh.

Inquirer