Published September 19, 2017, 10:01
PM By Myrna
M. Velasco
The universal charge pass-on in the
consumers’ electric bills had given Power Sector Assets and Liabilities
Management Corporation (PSALM) collections reaching P53 billion as of July this
year.
For the newly approved universal
charges on stranded debts and stranded contract costs, PSALM Officer-in-Charge
Lourdes Alzona indicated that such would add P37 billion in their collections
over the nine-year recovery period prescribed by the Energy Regulatory
Commission.
She said the fresh batch of UC
collections “will provide PSALM with available funds for debt servicing.”
Alzona added “though the UC for
stranded debt is a nine-year levelized recovery starting only this last quarter
of the year, PSALM’s exposure to interest and forex (foreign exchange) risks
will somehow be mitigated.”
The initial UC pass-on of stranded
contract costs was approved in 2011, and the company executive qualified their
collections sets off “funding source and cash relief in liquidating PSALM’s
huge financial obligations.”
She stressed that as cash flows of
the state-run firm improved due to UC collections, it manages to “have no
refinancing or just borrows less to cover the yearly operational shortfall.”
Based on company data, the total
financial obligations of PSALM had already been pared to P502.72 billion as of
first quarter this 2017 – comprising of P277.12 billion debts and P225.60
billion on lease obligations with independent power producers. It was slight
downtrend from end of December 2016’s debt level of R506.3 billion.
Nevertheless, it is apparent that
its debt profile is dominated by US dollars, hence, the company’s risk exposure
to forex fluctuations could still be that high.
Roughly 49-percent accounted for
dollar-denominated debts or R135.73 billion; while peso-denominated had been at
41.04-percent or P113.73 billion. The rest is in Japanese yen for 9.98-percent
at P27.66 billion.
It has been PSALM’s target to fully
wipe out its outstanding financial obligations before the end of corporate life
in 2026.
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