First Gen’s 9-month income hits P10.3 billion

First Gen Corp.’s (First Gen) net income attributable to its parent as of end-September grew by 11 percent to P10.3 billion from P9.6 billion posted a year ago.

The Lopez-led firm attributed the growth to the strong performance of its gas-fired power plants and renewable energy (RE) facilities from January to September this year.

First Gen operates the 1,000-megawatts (MW) Santa Rita, 500MW San Lorenzo, 97MW Avion plant.

Revenues from the electricity sales of its power facilities stood at P78.1 billion at end-September this year, up by 18 percent from P68.6-billion posted in the same period last year. The natural gas portfolio accounted for 59 percent of the revenues; hydro plants, 4 percent; and geothermal, wind, solar revenues of its subsidiary Energy Development Corp., 35 percent.

“Our clean and renewable energy platforms generated higher revenues for the nine months of 2021 as power demand recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Revenue growth also reflected the higher fuel commodity prices experienced all over the world.

We likewise witnessed our gas-fired plants increasingly running on liquid fuel due to gas supply restrictions from the Malampaya field.  We expect to address this volatility and uncertainty once our LNG import terminal operates in the last quarter of next year,” said First Gen President Francis Giles Puno.

The natural gas platform posted a 20-percent year-on-year rise in recurring earnings to P7.9 billion due to higher electricity sales.

EDC, meanwhile, posted recurring attributable earnings of P3 billion at end-September this year, 6 percent lower from the same period a year ago mainly due to higher maintenance expenses.

First Gen’s hydro platform contributed P300 million during the period. In particular, the 132.8MW Pantabangan-Masiway power plants generated higher revenues as the commencement of its contract with Meralco was augmented by merchant sales.

First Gen has 3,495MW of installed capacity in its portfolio, which accounts for 19 percent of the country’s gross generation.