The key to managing and indeed bringing down power costs in the Philippines now lies in judiciuos power contracting by the distribution utilities (while negotiating the tricky obstical course being laid out by ERC and PSALM).
My very first engagement in the Philippines in 1994 was to lead a series of workshops on IPP contracting for the old ERB and the PEPOA utilities and collaborated with a gentleman from San Francisco (forgot his name) who has now moved on to advisory support in bankrupt and troubled power projects.
That’s an interesting speciality because he’s well versed in what the “sore” spots (and therefore vulnerabilities) of projects are. For the last four years I’ve been supporting the State of California in re-negotiating the troubled state contracts signed with a proverbial gun to their head in 2001.
I’ve been focused on “fixing” the troublesome elements of contracts (and it’s not all necessariliy just price), specifically related to emerging market design issues. It’s a very similar situation to the Philippines where we are also facing emerging market design changes.
OK – here’s the secret implicitly promised in the title. Go to this website and you will find all of the long-term contracts that the state of California has with IPPs.
Some are peaking power contracts, some are combined-cycle, some are system power contracts. Almost all of these have been renegotiated and fixed to some extent. It’s a lot of reading, but if you’re a student of “terms & conditions” this is an interesting, modern sylabus.