NAPOCOR Seeks Congress Aid to Augment its 2023 Budget

State-owned National Power Corporation (Napocor) earlier sought Congress’ help for the augmentation of its 2023 budget to ensure that it can sustain the operations of its 278 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) plants nationwide.

In a letter addressed to the House Committee on Appropriations chaired by Rep. Elizaldy Co and vice-chaired by Rep. Stella Quimbo, Napocor emphasized the need for its supplemental budget to be included in the General Appropriations Act (GAA) for 2023 or that additional funding sources to cover the augmentation be approved this year.

“Inclusion of our proposed special provisions in the GAA would allow our Board to augment our budget if possible sources of funds become available without going back to Congress,” said Napocor president and CEO Fernando Martin Roxas.

Napocor said that the augmentation was due to the volatility of fuel prices which are currently priced twice as much than the initially available funds. Fuel accounts for almost 70% of the corporation’s operational costs for both its SPUG plants and new power provider subsidies (NPPs).

Roxas said that other contingency measures being considered are credit lines from the Landbank of the Philippines, immediate approval of tariff applications before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) and reimbursements for the advances it made in the maintenance of the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) from 2011 to 2023 in the amount of 404 million.

As mandated by the Electric Power Industry Reform Act of 2001, Napocor powers up far-flung islands and communities not connected to the main grid. Along with NPPs/QTPs and with its 278 power plants and power barges and as operators of the transmission systems of six provinces, it provides electricity to around 1.3 million households in the countryside.