Meralco’s core income rose 14% in first semester

By Alena Mae S. Flores – July 29, 2019 at 07:35 pm
from manilastandard.net

Power retailer Manila Electric Co. said Monday core net income increased 14 percent in the first half to P12.3 billion from P10.85 billion a year ago on higher sales volume and revenues.

Meralco’s said net income was flat in the period at P12 billion. Reported net income excludes the effects of foreign exchange gains or losses, mark-to-market adjustments and other one-time, exceptional transactions.

Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the full-year financial forecast was driven by sales volume which soared 8.3 percent in July alone.

“We are quite optimistic that core profitability will be better than last year’s P22.4 billion. At least P23 billion this year, to be safe,” Pangilinan said.

Consolidated revenues went up 10 percent in the six-month period to P165 billion from P150.5 billion in the same period last year led by higher charges at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the weakening of the peso versus the dollar and the 5-percent increase in energy sales volume.

Consolidated electricity sales volumes grew 5 percent year-on-year to 22,823 gigawatt-hours, as average temperature registered an almost 2-degree-Celsius increase compared with the same month in 2018.

It said the minimal weather disturbance, limited power interruption with efficient energy sourcing and highly dependable network and significantly lower inflation boosted the consumer confidence during the period.

Meralco’s system demand in the first half peaked at 7,740 megawatts on June 4, up 5 percent over 7,399 MW on May 23, 2018.

Residential sales volume grew fastest at more than 6 percent to 7,146 gWh, representing 31 percent of the total gWh distributed.

The north section of Meralco’s franchise area led the growth for ramp-up with developments in Novaliches, Commonwealth-Balintawak and Baliuag.

The south sector, mainly the cities of Paranaque, Taguig and Pasay, was a close second with the increased builds and occupancy of both horizontal and vertical projects and demand from Philippine offshore gaming operations.

The commercial customer class is expected to maintain a 5-percent growth, supported by Chinese investments and expansion of flexible workspace operations and continuing remittance from overseas Filipino workers.

The largest demand from commercial customers came from the business process outsourcing industry followed by Pogos.

The industrial customer class grew 4 percent led by non-metallic, food and beverage and rubber and plastics industries. Cement consumption also continued to increase.