As its second power barge acquisition, PB 117, was formally turned over March 1, Therma Marine Inc. (TMI) of the Aboitiz group bats for immediate regulatory approval of its ancillary services agreement with system operator National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP) to allow recovery of costs resulting from the operation of the facilities.

The company has two pending applications for its Ancillary Services Procurement Agreement (ASPA), wherein the filings included cost recovery mechanism for the dispatch of the facilities’ capacity for NGCP’s ancillary services requirement.

“We have a contract with NGCP, it is pending for the approval of the ERC, so hopefully, we would be able to recover,” Aboitiz Power president and chief executive officer Erramon I. Aboitiz said.

The first privatized power barge (PB 118) was turned over to the company last month. And given scant capacity in Mindanao, the facility was required by the system operator to run even without yet a clear direction on the proposed Ancillary Service-Cost Recovery Mechanism (AS-CRM), proposed in their joint filing.

For PB 118 alone, Aboitiz disclosed that they are spending P200 million to P250 million a month for fuel, which they hope to recoup upon ERC’s approval of their ASPA application.

“We’re taking a very big risk, because clearly, we’ll not be paid if the ERC won’t approve it. But how do you not run when Mindanao needs power,” he stressed.

In their filing, NGCP and TMI indicated that “the continuous provision of ancillary services to the Mindanao grid will be assured and the risk to the safety and stability of the grid substantially mitigated.”