|
By Euan Paulo C. Añonuevo, Reporter
State-owned National Power Corp. said the case
of price manipulation at the spot market filed by various consumer
groups and NGOs before the Ombudsman has been resolved by concerned
government agencies.
In a statement, Napocor said the Energy
Regulatory Commission has found no prima facie case against the
Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp. (PSALM), which
has been accused of anticompetitive behavior at the Wholesale
Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
This was in reaction to a complaint filed by
consumer groups led by the People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity
Rates, AGHAM, Gabriela and the Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan)
before the Office of the Ombudsman with regard to the alleged price
rigging by Napocor in the spot market.
PSALM, which trades in behalf of Napocor’s
contracted independent power producers (IPP) at the WESM, is the
agency that was alleged to have committed the price manipulation,
but was subsequently cleared by the ERC.
Napocor said that is was never the subject of
any investigation for alleged price manipulation activities in the
spot market.
“The issue of price manipulation in the WESM
two years ago has been resolved by the ERC, which ruled that there
was no enough evidence to prove that such a manipulation took
place.. It was not Napocor that was the subject of the investigation
but PSALM,” it said.
The groups alleged that Napocor, through its
president Cyril del Callar, exercised abuse of market power when
three of its power plants colluded to offer electricity at much
higher rates, ranging from P10 to P20 per kilowatt-hour, by
artificially creating supply shortages so that they could recover
their stranded costs.
Because of this, “Napocor is allowed to
recover around P9 Billion in generation charges from the
questionable transactions between August to November of 2006,” the
group said.
They added that in light of the price
manipulation at the WESM pushed generation rates even higher during
the said period.
But Napocor said that it does not have the
capability nor the capacity to influence prices in the WESM, and for
that matter in the world fuel market such as coal or oil.
“Our existing capacity accounts for only about
20 percent. Other companies that have IPPs account for even a bigger
share,” Napocor added.
This is the second case filed by consumer groups
against Napocor. The first involved alleged overpriced emergency
coal purchases that also contributed to higher generation rates.
|
