Meralco core income up 9% to P19.6-B
By Myrna M. Velasco – October 28, 2022, 3:42 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Buoyed by the strong financial outcome of its Pacific Light gas-fired power venture in Singapore and the uptick in energy sales, the consolidated core net income of Manila Electric Company (Meralco) climbed nine percent to P19.6 billion in this year’s nine-month stretch from P18.1 billion in the same period last year.
On reported net income, the giant power utility company also logged significant uptick of 20-percent to P19.8 billion from the year-ago level of P16.5 billion on parallel January-September period.
The upbeat financial result of the power firm redounds to core earnings per share of P17.394, higher by nine percent from last year while reported earnings per share went up by 20 percent to P17.53 per share.
Given the firm’s three-quarter rosy financial performance, Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan stated that “the balance of the year should look as good as the first nine months, if not slightly better, so the forecast expectation for the full year will be better than the core income last year which we reported at P24.6 billion.”
He qualified that “despite the challenges the country is currently facing – including elevated food and energy prices – Meralco expects power demand to continue growing, which makes the energy sector maintain its critical role in supporting economic growth and progress.”
As presented by Meralco Chief Financial Officer Betty-Siy Yap, the key drivers in the company’s upturn in earnings had been the sustained six percent growth in energy sales plus the P8.97 billion contribution of its Pacific Light gas plant in Singapore, that had grown 58-percent due to “increase in demand in Singapore and higher margin on spot prices.”
For the other power plant-assets of the company, San Buenaventura power facility yielded P2.63 billion as contribution to core income; and the BulacanSol plant posted earnings of P200 million while its generating assets under Global Business Power Corporation still suffered a net loss of P1.89 billion.
On the consolidated revenue front, Yap indicated that this escalated by 36 percent to P314.9 billion from last year’s P231.7 billion within the same nine-month duration, and this was “mainly due to higher pass-through charges on account of persisting increases in global fuel prices.”
Meralco President Ray C. Espinosa further highlighted that the volume sales growth at six percent already topped pre-pandemic levels reaching 36,553 gigawatt-hours (GWh) from last year’s 34,398 GWh.
Meralco’s affiliate company – the Clark Electric Distribution Corporation (CEDC) – specifically registered an aggressive sales upswing of 16 percent within the nine-month period.
The utility firm reported that its sales mix has been shifting “towards the commercial segment whose share to the total sales increased to 35-percent from 33-percent a year ago.”
Sales in the residential segment, in particular, had softened with a share of 35-percent from the prior year’s 37-percent; while sales volume to the industrial sector had been roughly steady at 30-percent.
Espinosa said “surpassing pre-pandemic levels in our sales volumes signifies that demand for power, particularly from the commercial segment, will continue to grow as we recover and move forward from the pandemic.”
Nevertheless, he conveyed that the company has been closely monitoring the surging fuel prices in the world market, as well as the shrinking value of the Philippine peso versus the US dollar.
“We recognize that the elevated fuel prices coupled with the depreciation of the peso, which is already nearing P60 to a dollar, continued to put upward pressure on Meralco’s retail rates,” he stressed; adding that “while we seek ways to cushion the impact of these challenges, our customers can expect that Meralco will continue to energize more households and more businesses, while powering our economy with stable, reliable and cost-competitive electricity.”
