MANILA, Philippines — The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) has imposed a fine of P2.02 million on a unit of First Gen Corp. after its natural gas plant had too many power outages last year, the listed power firm said Friday.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, First Gen said its wholly-owned subsidiary First NatGas Power Corp. (FNPC) received the notice from the energy regulator on June 2, Thursday.
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FNPC owns the 414-megawatt (MW) San Gabriel combined-cycle natural gas plant in Batangas.
ERC had told FNPC that it exceeded the maximum limit for allowable unplanned outages by 7.7 days in the first four months of 2021. Because of this, the company was ordered to pay a fine of P2,017,600.
The yearly outage threshold for natural gas plants is 36.98 days, according to an ERC resolution issued in 2020.
"FNPC has 10 days from notice to pay the penalty and is reviewing its options," First Gen said.
Last month, ERC ordered FGP Corp., another subsidiary of First Gen, to pay a fine of P246,000 for exceeding the yearly outage limit last year after it logged a total of 10.7 unplanned outage days from January to April 2021.
The Lopez-led First Gen has four natural gas-fired power plants based in Batangas.