PSALM: a story unblemished by success

A few years back, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corp (PSALM) was slammed for inefficiency and questionable transactions. The privatization of power plants that it carried out had all the taint of sweetheart deals, according to alarmed lawmakers. The tenders were low. Not only were the terms of the bids skewed in favor of the bidders. In one specific case, the winner in the bids put up by the PSALM had been granted generous after-sale perks, including fuel supply at give-away terms.

Buried in some congressional files are the paper trail of the questionable privatization deals undertaken by PSALM which sum was this: the interests of the private bidders trumped the need to make power rates competitive and power supply efficient.