Philippine Government urged to nationalise power barges

• 12 years ago (2012-03-24)
• David Flin

North America 1021

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Teddy Casiño, Representative for the Philippine district of Bayan Muna, has proposed that the government take over privatised power barges in Mindanao as an immediate step to address the reported power crisis in the island. He said: “It appears that there is enough power supply in Mindanao. The problem is that it is too expensive, so the power distributors are not buying for fear of going bankrupt.”

He linked the dramatic increase in power rates to the privatisation of the National Grid Corporation of the Philippines by the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM), which then entered into an Ancillary Services Procurement Agreement (ASPA) with Therma Marine, involving two privatised power barges, Power Barges 117 and 118. Under the terms of the APSA, Therma Marine would sell additional power to the Mindanao grid at a higher price than when the barges were being used as baseload plants.

Casiño said: “Using the ASPA, NGCP obtained a provisional authority for new power rates which is the cause of the current exorbitant power rates. Thus a logical solution is for the government to take over the power barges of Therma Marine and add it to the grid as cheap base load power instead of expensive ancillary power. Temporarily taking over the power barges will lower prices allowing power distributors to buy cheaper power and supply it to customers. Based on Article XII Section 17 of the Constitution, the government can temporarily take over or direct the operation of any privately-owned public utility or business affected with public interest, if there is a national emergency, when the public interest so requires.