PETALING JAYA: Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) has stopped buying electricity from YTL Power International Bhd following the expiry of a power purchase agreement (PPA) between the two companies.

“With the expiry, YTL no longer exports power to the grid effective Oct 1, 2015,” TNB said in a statement yesterday.

It is unclear how the latest development would impact YTL Power. The company had previously said it was in discussions with the Energy Commission (EC) for an extension of the PPA.

Shares in YTL Power were unchanged at RM1.52, with 4.26 million shares being traded. The stock price was adjusted from its Friday’s closing price of RM1.62 as it was traded ex-dividend yesterday.

In the statement, TNB said the PPA, which was signed back on March 31, 1993 with YTL Power’s subsidiary – YTL Power Generation Sdn Bhd – expired on Sept 30, 2015.

“Concurrently, a leasing agreement which YTL had entered into with TNB to lease the latter’s land in Paka in Terengganu and Pasir Gudang in Johor to build its power stations was also affected,” TNB said.

The power giant said that the PPA signed with YTL Power was its first PPA with an independent power producer (IPP), and the only PPA that was based on a take-or-pay mechanism for a period of 21 years.

It has been reported that YTL Power has been selected under a “short-term capacity” bid by the EC to continue to supply electricity from its existing facility.

YTL Power had previously been quoted as saying that the company was currently in discussions on the terms and conditions and that the new PPA was expected to be signed for the period from March 1, 2015 to Dec 31, 2018.

According to sources, the bidding process for the new PPA has already closed and the result is expected to be announced soon.

“The short-term contract is expected to supply about 580MW of electricity, and should YTL bag the contract, it will continue to supply electricity from its existing power plants,” sources said.

YTL Power has two gas-fired power plants in Malaysia - one in Paka, Terengganu, and another in Pasir Gudang, Johor – with a combined generation capacity of 1,212MW.

Other IPPs, namely, Powertek Bhd, controlled by 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB) and Malakoff Corp Bhd’s Port Dickson Power Sdn Bhd are also bidding for an extension of their PPA contracts.

Meanwhile, it is believed that YTL Power has received a conditional offer from the EC.

Among the conditions include YTL Power resolving land issues with TNB, as well as its gas supply agreement with Petroliam Nasional Bhd.

Recall, the EC had earlier announced that it would be conducting an open-bidding exercise to extend expiring PPAs to address a power shortage due to a delay in two major power plants and to maximise the use of the existing assets.

The two plants are 1MDB’s 2,000MW coal-fired power plant called Project 3B, and Project 4A, which is a 1,000MW-1,400MW gas-fired power plant to be built in Johor.

StarBiz had reported that while fast-tracking the construction of new power plants was one way of addressing the problem, industry players have opined that a more immediate solution was to look at repowering expiring power plants such as YTL Power, Powertek and Port Dickson Power.

“It may not be a long contract. They could just tap the existing plant to fill up the gap should there be a shortfall in the energy-generation capacity in view of the delays,” said an industry observer.

So far, the EC has extended the concession agreement for five IPPs, with a generating capacity of 2,915MW. The extension has been ongoing since 2011 when the EC took over the awarding of new power plants in the country in a move to revamp the national electricity-generation sector.

According to an analyst, about 15% of YTL Power’s profits are from its local power plant business, while the remaining comes from its overseas assets.

In the financial year ended June 30, 2015 (FY15), YTL Power’s net profit fell 25% to RM901mil from RM1.2bil in FY14. Its revenue was also down to RM11.93bil from RM14.44bil a year ago due to the lower units of electricity sold and the lower electricity price as a result of lower fuel prices.

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