Sale of power assets raised almost $20B

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MANILA — The government’s privatization of state-owned power assets through the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) has raised almost $20 billion as of October 2014.

In the latest status report on the implementation of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) of 2001, PSALM has generated a total proceeds of $19.9 billion, of which actual collection amounted to $9.3 billion.

“The proceeds were utilized for debt prepayment, regular payment of debts and (IPP) independent power producer obligations, and payment of other privatization-related expenses,” the report said.

The EPIRA is a power reform law that ordered the privatization of the power sector, specifically the power assets of the National Power Corp. (Napocor).

PSALM is an entity created by the said law and has mandate on the privatization of the assets of Napocor.

The report also indicated that a total of $7.8 billion of the $9.1 billion privatization proceeds utilized was used for the liquidation of financial obligations.

“The difference between the total amount collected and total utilization in the amount of $1.156 billion is placed in temporary investments while awaiting utilization,” the report noted.

Meanwhile, PSALM is still expecting to raise $3.2 billion to $3.4 billion more from the sale of the remaining assets, which are lined up for privatization up to 2017.

It is also eyeing to sell several power plants with a total capacity of  1,600 to 1,700 megawatts .