Meralco: Easing of curbs to hike Oct electricity sales
BY LENIE LECTURA – OCTOBER 31, 2021
from Business Mirror
The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) could register higher electricity sales volume in October on the back of the continued reopening of the economy and increased mobility.
“We’re expecting close to 3,900 gigawatt hours for October,” said Meralco First Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer Ferdinand Geluz.
He said Meralco recorded in October last year around 3,700 GWh. “We will definitely be better than last year,” added Geluz.
At end-September this year, Meralco’s consolidated energy sales volumes rose 6 percent to 34,398 GWh from 32,539 GWh in 2020 as commercial and industrial sectors recovered in the 9-month period following more flexible community quarantine restrictions, and sustained growth in the residential sector.
Energy sales volumes from Meralco and Clark Electric were 6 percent and 10 perent higher, respectively. In terms of the sales mix, residential sales accounted for 37 percent, while commercial and industrial sales accounted for 33 percent and 30 percent, respectively, from January to September this year.
In September, Meralco customers went up by 4 percent to 7.4 million from 7.1 million in the same period in 2020.
Meralco continued to expand and upgrade facilities to build a more resilient distribution network.
Major capital projects completed in January to September include the expansion of the 115-34.5 kilovolt, First Philippine Industrial Park substation; and development of the 115-34.5 kV San Mateo substation.
Meralco also completed relocation of 1,170 electric poles. In addition, 933 electric poles have been retired for the road widening projects of the Department of Public Works and Highways.
The company reported last October 25 that its consolidated core net income in September grew by 15 percent to P18.1 billion from last year’s P15.7 billion driven by the combined effect of the 6-percent increase in energy distributed with the easing of quarantine restrictions, and increased contribution from its different business units and subsidiaries.
Reported net income improved by 47 percent year-on-year to P16.5 billion from P11.3 billion due to lower exceptional charges arising from the impairment recognized from the company’s investment in PacificLight Power Ltd. in 2020.
Consolidated total revenues were higher by 11 percent to P231.7 billion from P208.8 billion, mainly boosted by electricity revenues, which grew by 11 percent to P225.4 billion from P203 billion.
Meralco spent P18.5 billion on capital expenditures (capex) at end-September. Of which, almost 60 percent went to networks capex. About 90 percent of the networks capex was spent on new connections, asset renewals and load growth projects; while the balance was used to support other projects including the government’s Build, Build, Build program and the Meralco Electrification Program.
