The Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it has reduced the outstanding financial obligation of the National Power Corp. (NPC) by P33.2 billion this year.
The state-run firm said as of end October, NPC’s obligations stood at P416 billion compared with P449.2 billion from a year ago.
Obligations transferred to PSALM was at a high of P1.24 trillion plus the P16 billion loans of electric cooperatives with the National Electrification Administration when the Electric Power Industry Reform Act was enacted in 2001.
PSALM said it achieved a collection efficiency of 93.71 percent.
Earlier, Irene Joy Garcia, the state-run firm’s president and chief executive officer, said that it will soon start the studies in the privatization of the 168 megawatts (MW) Casecnan hydro plant in Nueva Ecija alongside the 39.1 MW Caliraya hydro, 736 MW Kalayaan hydro and 22 MW Botocan run-of-river hydro project collectively known as the CBK hydro complex in Laguna.
The firm said CBK will be the first to be privatized since Casecnan is still having ownership issues.
Post qualification activities for the studies involved in the privatization of NPC’s compound in Quezon City are also underway after receiving bids.
