NATIONAL POWER CORP. PRESIDENT Cyril del Callar scoffed at a pro-Manila Electric Co. newspaper advertisement Saturday, tending to show that Napocor was charging overly high rates for the power it sells to distributors.

“These are all lies,” said Del Callar, reacting to the ad titled, “Walang ‘Tong-Pats’ ang Generation Charge ng Meralco (There is no padding in Meralco’s generation charge).”

According to Del Callar, contrary to the figures cited in the ad, Napocor charges a generation rate of P3.82 per KwH in northern Luzon, P3.26 in Central Luzon, and P3.89 in southern Luzon, or an average of P3.62.

“How come Meralco is not selling at those rates? Why is it buying power during peak hours when the rates are higher?” he said.

In the paid newspaper advertisement which came out in several newspapers, including the Inquirer, Meralco denied that it was padding the generation charge in its electricity bills.

Del Callar said he would “show Congress who is padding [the] charges.”

The ad showed that Meralco was buying power from Napocor at P4.76/ kWh, and from the Napocor/WESM (wholesale electricity spot market) at P6.02/kWh.

The Napocor president said that Napocor reduced its generation charge by 67 centavos from January to March, but this was not yet reflected in the Meralco bill.

Del Callar also said that the Energy and Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) should be amended so that power distributors could be regulated, and that Napocor’s privatization be hastened.

“We’re the only one being regulated. There should be regulation of all distributors,” he said.

Del Callar said that Napocor was ready to file its petition for the recovery of an estimated P10 billion in generation and forex-related costs with the Energy Regulatory Commission.

In a show-cause order dated May 7, the ERC directed Napocor to explain why it failed to file applications to recover P10 billion worth of generation and forex-related costs, which would have meant a rate reduction of about 20 centavos per kWh for its customers.

The delay resulted in the state generator overcharging its customers by about P10 billion in over-recoveries, the ERC said.

“There’s no delay. ERC just wants to show that it’s working,” said Del Callar.

“This is not overcharging. We are ready to give more than 20 cents reduction over the next 15 days,” he said.

The leftist Bagong Alyansang Makabayan said Malacañang should consider a revamp of Napocor management, citing the state generator’s having figured in recent controversies involving over-priced coal purchases, price manipulation in the electricity spot market and now the over-recoveries.

“The problem is not state ownership of Napocor. The problem lies partly with the people running Napocor and the policies governing the power industry,” said Bayan secretary-general Renato Reyes Jr.

Reyes said that because of the deregulation of the power industry, Napocor officials run the state firm “like a mere business venture not imbued with public interest.”

“We want Napocor to remain state-owned but run by competent and proconsumer officials,” he said.

The consumer group People Opposed to Warrantless Electricity Rates (Power) yesterday supported moves to investigate Napocor for failing to file applications for the generation rate adjustment mechanism (GRAM) and incremental currency exchange rate adjustment (Icera).

Power convener Ramon Ramirez said that even if Napocor manages to justify the amounts collected by “some sort of accounting wizardry,” there has already been a violation of the guidelines set by the ERC.

Bayan and Power said stronger regulatory mechanisms should be put in place to check abuses like overcharging.

They noted that Napocor recorded around P89 billion in revenues in 2006, the year that the over-recoveries started.

“The Napocor revenues, it would appear, came from overcharges. The amount must be returned to consumers as soon as possible,” Reyes said.