Metro Manila (CNN Philippines, October 28) — Manila Electric Company (Meralco) saw its consolidated core income rise 11 percent to ₱18.5 billion in nine months from ₱16.7 billion last year, boosted by higher sales volume and customer count.
The power distributor said its consolidated reported net income stood at ₱18.3 billion during the period, the same as that of earlier year.
Meralco’s sales volumes rose by 6 percent to 35,005 Gigawatt hours (GWh), which the company attributed to slow inflation, favorable interest rate environment, stable foreign remittances, and growing services sector.
Net system input and peak demand with Meralco service area also grew 6 percent to 36,853 GWh and 5 percent to 7,740 GWh, respectively.
The company said its sales volume growth was driven by an 8 percent uptick in residential energy sales, 6 percent in commercial energy sales, and 5 percent in industrial energy sales.
Electric revenues reached ₱235.4 billion during the third quarter, up by 6 percent year on year, boosted mainly by higher generation charges brought by higher prices in the wholesale electricity market and increased consumption.
For its non-electric units, Meralco generated a 6 percent decrease in its revenue to ₱5.8 billion from the same period in 2018.
Meralco said its customer count slightly went up by 4 percent to 6.8 million during the nine-month period.
Meralco Chairman Manuel Pangilinan said the company expects growth for the rest of the year, citing good economic prospects.
“We anticipate sustained growth for Meralco resulting from the country’s continued overall economic expansion as well growth that will follow the government’s ongoing infrastructure development programs,” Pangilinan was quoted as saying in the statement.
