Electricity demand in Meralco franchise area grew in April

BY LENIE LECTURA – MAY 26, 2021
from Business Mirror

Electricity demand in the franchise area of the Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) for April this year has improved versus April 2020 as government ramps up its Covid-19 vaccination drive.

Meralco President Ray C. Espinosa said during the company’s stockholders’ meeting Tuesday that last month’s energy sales stood at 14,261 gigawatt hours (GWh), up 3 percent from the 13,856GWh in the same month last year. Net Systems Input (NSI) also improved by 2 percent to 15,001GWh from 14,655GWh in the same period last year.

“The first few months of the year show evidence of recovery and healthy growth. Through April 2021, energy sales grew 3 percent and NSI by two percent compared with the same period last year. Likewise, we continue to energize more customers as shown by year-to-date customer count growth rate of 4 percent,” said Espinosa.

As of end-April, Meralco customer base grew 4 percent to 7.23 million from last year’s 6.96 million.

Moving ahead, Meralco said it would continue to heighten revenue enhancement and expansion programs. Espinosa said Meralco would accelerate its electrification program, expand its business by serving new areas through key partnerships and also expand pole management operations to urban services and non-cable attachments.

“We are moving towards the electrification of Meralco’s vehicle fleet beginning this year. We will deploy electric pickups, vans, cars and motorcycles to serve our Metro Manila business centers. We will also heighten our race to zero-waste program not only in the centers of our operations but also to the edges of our distribution network.

Going forward, 100 percent of our new distribution transformers will be powered by plant based natural ester oil, making these assets 99 percent recyclable and biodegradable,” said Espinosa.

Meralco reported in March that its profits fell by nearly a third in 2020 as the slight increase in demand for electricity from its residential customers could not offset the sudden drops in demand from its commercial and industrial clients.

Based on a regulatory filing, Meralco’s reported net income stood at P16.32 billion as of end-December, a 30-percent plunge from P23.29 billion the year prior, as its revenues declined by 14 percent to P275.30 billion from P318.32 billion.

The company said its income in the first quarter grew by 66 percent year-on-year to P4.3 billion, while core profit fell 11 percent year-on-year to P5.1 billion.

Meralco Chief Finance Officer Betty Siy-Yap said the company’s net income during the period was largely attributed to foreign exchange gain, re-evaluation of Meralco’s investment in Global Business Power Corp. and non-core expense adjustment.