San Miguel Corp. (SMC) has offered to pay P22.68 billion worth of capacity charges, two years ahead of schedule, for its 1,200 megawatts (MW) Ilijan power plant to the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM)
Ramon Ang, SMC president and chief operating officer, said in a letter to PSALM his offer is separate from the alleged “overdue receivables” of its power arm South Premiere Power Corp. amounting to P23.9 billion, which is still subject to a court case pending since 2015 stemming from differences in computing generation charges.
Ang said the amount SMC is offering to prepay would also help PSALM raise funds for the government that can be used for various state projects, including funding efforts aimed at addressing the novel coronavirus spread.
Meanwhile, PSALM said it cut its financial obligations by P27.18 billion and collected P98.37 billion in revenues and receivables in 2019.
PSALM’s revenues and receivables came from privatization proceeds, power sales, collections from delinquent and overdue accounts, and proceeds from the universal charges (UCs).
PSALM president Irene Joy Garcia expressed that its 93.5 percent collection efficiency for current power sales enabled them to collect P11.76 billion from its power customers and P4.32 billion in overdue and delinquent accounts by offering borrowers flexible payment schemes.
