Stressing that it has not included any hidden costs in its filing for universal charge in the P471 billion stranded debts recovery, the Power Sector Assets and Liabilities Management Corporation (PSALM) asked Filipino consumers to keep track of the hearings on the issue and see how the entire process will be evaluated by the Energy Regulatory Commission.

With this pronouncement, PSALM is now being challenged to also make clear where its budget for the bonuses and other perks came from and why its definition of stranded debts has been broadened from what the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (EPIRA) has just intended to retire the debts of the National Power Corporation.

The company also denied that CoA ever said that its bonuses and employee compensation were part of its cost recoveries. It must be qualified though that in CoA’s audit observation report, it never tackled universal charge or what costs PSALM has included in its filing.

What the CoA tackled and its prescriptions are on questions about the bonuses, in keeping with the ‘belt-tightening’ measures being imposed by the government and underpinned by relevant policies; and what were the justifications for granting the ‘performance incentive bonuses.’

The other items tackled by CoA are the expenditures of the company which are reportedly lacking legal basis, including the P1 million media relations expenses, the grant of P980,000 worth of items for ‘loyalty award’ to employees, and hazard pay, among others.

“There is no hidden cost in the petition for Universal Charge for Stranded Debt (UC-SD) filed by PSALM with the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC),” the company said.