Meralco sees 6.5% hike in energy sales in H1

By Lenie Lectura – June 28, 2018
from Business Mirror

THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) expects a 6.5-percent growth in energy sales in the first half of the year, higher than the 4.5 percent it posted in the same period a year ago.

“We will probably end-June with roughly around 6.5 percent. Demand was strong in May, but it went down in June. This year is higher because to the country’s credit, industrial and commercial activities have been strong. Maybe it’s the growth of the economy,” Meralco President Oscar Reyes said.

From January to May this year, Reyes said energy sales grew by 7.5 percent.

However, electricity sales in June “is trending a little softer because rains have started and it’s been cool during the last three months.”

Reyes said June sales are trending below 3 percent.

Meralco earlier reported that energy sales for the first quarter of the year stood at 10,145 gigawatt-hours, up 8.9 percent from 9,317 GWh in the same period a year ago. The higher temperature, which averaged 27.1 degrees Celsius, also drove the increase in volume during the period.

It said unusually strong sales from January to March this year pushed Meralco’s net income higher by 10 percent to P5.3 billion, while core net income rose 7 percent to P4.92 billion.  Revenues also went up by 6 percent to P70.09 billion.

Reyes said sales volume for the second quarter, albeit lower than the first quarter, would still be driven by increased consumption from existing customers and new customers. At end-March, Meralco’s customer count increased to 6.4 million accounts. He said the subscriber base is growing at a rate of 4 percent to 4.5 percent every year.

Meralco reiterated it remains committed, and has always been ready to invest in capital expenditures for a highly resilient, customer-responsive, digitally enabled distribution business, and fuel-efficient, reliable and environment-friendly power generation plants.