"Though we're engaging an independent adviser, we're adhering to our principle that there must be no conflicts of interest or conspiring with other bidders in line with the PM's Office's procurement regulations," Chaikasem Nitisiri, a member of the regulator's committee, said yesterday.

Since the board has to ask for funds to pay for the study, and it would take time to complete, the bidding is expected to be further delayed. However, Chaikasem insisted the tenders would not take place later than next March.

The regulator has made it clear that companies in which the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) holds more than 10 per cent should be barred from the bidding.

The ban applies to Electricity Generating Plc and Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Plc, which are owned 25 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively, by Egat.

However, these two subsidiaries have been fighting hard to get a chance at winning some of the power plant projects.

The exclusion from bidding of the subsidiaries would also hurt Egat, which has seen its own efforts to expand stymied by the court's nullification of its privatisation.

An Egat source said Egat's board meeting today would discuss whether the state agency would need to seek Cabinet approval to proceed with contracts it signed during the time when it was a public company. Now that Egat has been transformed back to a state enterprise, it needs the Cabinet's approval for all procurement contracts.

Chaikasem said the consultant would also help draft the terms of reference for the IPP bidding.  "We need money from the Energy Policy and Planning Office [EPPO]. The regulator, which is not yet a legal entity, has been budgeted nothing. The budget approval would take some time," he said.

Bidding parameters in general must

be based on those adopted in other countries as well as all related laws. Also to be taken

into account are the guidelines used for the first IPP bidding as well as earlier studies by the EPPO.

Then, after passing through a public hearing, the draft guidelines must be approved by the National Energy Policy Council, which oversees the regulator. "Primarily, the PM's Office's procurement regulations should be acceptable to all parties," he said.

Besides qualifying under those criteria, investors would also be judged on the distribution of fuel sources for power generation and the ratio of foreign-exchange financing as stated in their proposals.

Energy Reporters

The Nation