Meralco sees power sales growing by 6% this year

BY LENIE LECTURA – MARCH 3, 2022
from Business Mirror

THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is expecting to register over a 6-percent increase in electricity sales volume this year as restrictions eased under Alert Level 1.

“Six percent is achievable and more if commercial picks up because, well, industrial sales continue to be robust, while the commercial establishments open up, I think, it will bring the numbers up for Meralco to 6 percent or even more,” said Meralco chief commercial officer and head of customer retail services Ferdinand Geluz.

Meralco reported that consolidated distribution utility energy sales volumes in 2021 rose by 6 percent to 46,073 GWh (gigawatt hours) from 43,572 GWh in 2020.

Energy sales volumes from Meralco and Clark Electric Distribution Corp. went up by 6 percent and 10 percent, respectively.

The improvement was driven by sustained residential consumption, ramp-up in commercial volumes amid more relaxed quarantine restrictions, and strong industrial rebound within the franchise areas. 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.

In January this year, Geluz said Meralco’s consolidated sales volume grew to 3,506GWh. “This is actually 2 percent better than 2021”.

For February, Meralco is still finalizing the numbers. “But all indications lead to an increase of 6 percent at least for Meralco. So, we estimate Meralco volume to be more than 3,700 GWh and plus north of 3,700 GWh if we include Clark. That’s a 6-6.5 percent increase.”

Meralco reported robust earnings in 2021 due to higher energy sales volume and contributions from its power generation business.

Core profit grew by 13 percent to P24.6 billion last year from P21.7 billion in 2020. Net income, meanwhile, jumped by 44 percent year-on-year to P23.5 billion from P16.3 billion due to the absence of exceptional charges arising from the impairment recognized in 2020 on its investment in PacificLight Power Pte. Ltd.

Consolidated revenues went up by 16 percent to P318.5 billion from P275.3 billion, mainly driven by electricity revenues, which grew by 15 percent to P309.2 billion.

Energy sales volumes returned to near pre-pandemic levels as customer count reached 7.4 million at end-2021.