Vivant Corp.: We have nothing to do with ‘Vivant’ that owes PSALM P4 billion

By Lenie Lectura -  February 26, 2020
https://businessmirror.com.ph/2020/02/26/vivant-corp-we-have-nothing-to-do-with-vivant-that-owespsalm-p4-billion/

CEBU-BASED Vivant Corporation clarified on Monday that it has no unpaid obligations with the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM).
“Vivant Corp. and our subsidiaries Vivant Energy Corp. and Vivant Renewable Energy Corp. are not
connected with Vivant-Sta. Clara Northern Renewables Generation Corp.,” it said.
The listed firm released this statement after PSALM said Vivant-Sta. Clara Northern Renewables
Generation Corp. (Northern Renewables), which administers the Ippa (Independent Power Producer
Administrator) agreement for the Bakun Hydroelectric power plant in Ilocos Sur, has an unpaid account of P4.19 billion.
Vivant Corp. said the “Vivant” in Vivant-Sta. Clara is a remnant from its previous engagement with Northern Renewables, but “we have since sold our complete stakes in Vivant -Sta. Clara Northern Renewables Generation Corp, which was equivalent to 48 percent, as far back as October 2018.
“That said, we are not connected to the Bakun hydroelectric power plant in Bakun, Alilem, Ilocos Sur. That project is fully owned by Northern Renewables,” it pointed out.
Vivant Corp. added that it has no delinquent accounts with PSALM, and is fully compliant and up-to-date with all payments. PSALM earlier said that it would go after IPPAs with delinquent accounts amounting to a total P33.62 billion. Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, who chairs the PSALM Board, has instructed PSALM to pursue all legal remedies to compel these Ippas to pay up at once.
In 2019, PSALM  was able to collect P70.41 billion combined from its various IPPAs.
If the P33.62-billion delinquent accounts remain unpaid by the IPPAs, PSALM will incur an annual borrowing cost of about P1.7 billion a year—a substantial amount that the government could have used otherwise to spend more on its priority programs on infrastructure and human capital development.
The P33.62-billion delinquent accounts are part of the P95 billion in unpaid charges owed to PSALM not only by IPPAs but by other industry players as well such as electric cooperatives (ECs), plus receivables inherited from the National Power Corporation or those still subject to reconciliation.