Meralco retail posts 14% growth in Q1

By Myrna M. Velasco – Updated May 4, 2020, 9:34 AM
from Manila Bulletin

Power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) has been scaling up its power retailing business portfolio at a robust pace, logging 14 percent increase in customer base to 511 in the first quarter of this year.

That entails an addition of more than 70 customers that opted to contract or procure their electricity supply and services directly from the utility firm.

Meralco said its contestable customers are served by two of its subsidiaries – MPower and Vantage Energy Solutions and Management, Inc., which are licensed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) under the Retail Competition and Open Access (RCOA) policy in the restructured electricity sector.

“The combined volume of Meralco’s RES entities grew by 14 percent compared with 2019 as their customer count grew to 511,” the utility firm said. Meralco remains the biggest player in the retail competition segment of the power industry.

When it comes to income contribution, the company added that MPower and Vantage “managed to improve their performance, growing by 25 percent in terms of contribution to consolidated core net income.”

The power firm qualified though that “margins continued to be very tight as other retail suppliers continuously competed for market share and priced over one to two years.”

Notably, the RES segment of the power sector is considered the “most competitive” space for industry players, with cutthroat competition literally flourishing on price as well as packages of service offers.

Meralco emphasized that its “MPower and Vantage continue to distinguish themselves through value-added services which include thermal scanning and load-side monitoring, among others.”