By Juzel L. Danganan
MANILA, Sept 20 (PNA) — San Miguel Corp (SMC) has threatened to sue the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM) over the sudden change in the implementation of their contract for the capacity of the Sual power plant.
“We’ll file a case against PSALM for another illegal action — fraud — we only had a 1,000-MW contract with the government and in the last minute the capacity was changed to 1,200 MWs,” SMC president and chief operating officer Ramon Ang told reporters.
He added PSALM is charging the company at a capacity of 1,200 MWs despite its IPPA contract of 1,000-MW.
Ang explained the sudden change of capacity occurred during the term of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.
“PSALM’s contract with the power plant’s operator is 1,000 MW. Then, before GMA left in 2009, the operator said it built 1,200 MW despite (the contract) having only 1,000-MW,” he said.
San Miguel Energy Corp (SMEC) won the bidding for Sual’s Independent Power Producers Administrator (IPPA) contract on Aug 28, 2009, granting it the authority to sell the capacity of the power plant.
SMEC assumed as the administrator of the power plant’s capacity on Nov 6, 2009.
Sual is owned and operated by Team Energy, a joint venture between Marubeni Corp and Tokyo Electric Power Corp. It is the largest coal-fired power plant in the country. (PNA)