PSALM sets bid for IPP contracts

The state-run Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM) said it would bid out the independent power producer (IPP) contracts to IPP administrators (IPPAs) by the end of this year, a ranking PSALM official said.

PSALM vice president for asset management and electricity trading Froilan Tampinco said they also expect to hire another consultant for the creation of IPPAs within this quarter.

Aside from British Power International, commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) as consultant for the creation of IPPAs, PSALM will hire another advisor, this time to be financed by the World Bank.

"We will probably complete the bidding for the hiring of another consultant within the first quarter," Tampinco said.

He said it is necessary to tap another consultant as this will be the first time this kind of scheme will be carried out.

"This (creation of IPPAs)  is a pioneering effort and a totally new concept. Nobody has done this program before. We just want to make sure that we can get as much input as we could to ensure its success," he said.

Once another consultant is tapped, he said they expect the bidding of the IPP contracts to be completed by the end of 2007.

By next year, he said the IPP contracts would be placed in the wholesale electricity spot market.

Tampinco wants to assure the public that PSALM and the Department of Energy (DOE) are doing their best to put in place the IPPAs.

Industrialist and Consumer advocate Raul T. Concepcion earlier urged PSALM to fasttrack the transfer of power plants it is currently administering to the IPPAs.

The transfer, Concepcion said, will ensure the speedy implementation of open access and retail competition in the power industry.

"The transfer of management and control of at least 70 percent of the total energy output of the National Power Corp. (Napocor) with the IPP plants to the IPPAs, as per Sec. 51 of the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA), will pave the way for open access and retail competition," Concepcion said.