By Myrna M. Velasco – November 21, 2022, 3:38 PM
from Manila Bulletin
Listed firm Synergy Grid and Development Philippines Inc., the holding company of transmission firm National Grid Corporation of the Philippines (NGCP), posted substantial net income climb to P28.679 billion in the first nine months this year from P18.283 billion in the comparative period last year.
For the third quarter alone, the company’s profit rose to P6.364 billion as against P5.784 billion in a parallel July to September financial review in 2021.
As disclosed to the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE), the company’s revenues from operations services had also been on uptick of 38-percent to P48.67 billion as of end-September this 2022 versus last year’s P36.35 billion.
Synergy Grid said the higher revenues had been mainly attributed to the higher interim maximum allowable revenue (iMAR) that had been approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) – that in turn had been reflected as adjustment in the pass-on tariff of NGCP since calendar year 2020.
The company similarly indicated that its interest income jumped by 169.25-percent to P117.96 million within the nine-month period this year from P43.81 million in the same period in 2021.
It further explained that such had been “due to interest earned on placements of FOO (follow-on offering) proceeds prior to investment on preferred shares of NGCP.”
On the Sy-led firm’s operating expenses, this had gone up by 11.18-percent to P15.02 billion vis-à-vis P13.51 billion last year, “primarily because of the higher salaries, wages, and employees’ benefits, outside services, public relation and corporate social responsibility as well as repairs & maintenance.”
Relative to the repair and maintenance spending that it has been undertaking on its transmission facilities, the company emphasized that it forked out P1.08 billion within the specified three quarters this year from P775.43 million a year ago.
The array of spending it logged for its assets include those on maintenance of transmission lines and substation equipment; and the other facilities vital to the efficient operations of its facilities that have been servicing Filipino consumers.
NGCP, which has been Synergy Grid’s main operating asset, is the operator of the country’s power transmission backbone; hence, it is responsible for reliable operations of the overall electricity system.
Apart from expanding and reinforcing the transmission assets to accommodate load growth in the power system, NGCP also has a very critical mandate of ensuring sufficient power reserves to avoid power interruptions.
And in the massive scale investments in the clean technology sphere being pushed by the Philippine government, the transmission firm will also need to scale up its investments on transmission facilities that will underpin the integration of mammoth RE capacities into power grids.