Power retailer Manila Electric Co. posted a five-percent sales growth in January to September, a top executive said Monday.
“Year to date will be 32,530 gigawatt-hours [five percent growth],” Meralco senior vice president and head of customer retail services and corporate communication Al Panlilio said.
Panlilio said the sales growth in the first nine months was driven by the strong power demand in the first half. Sales volume increased 7 percent to 21,665 gigawatt-hours in the first six months.
Industrial sales volume grew the fastest at 9 percent, followed by residential sales at 6 percent and commercial sales at 6 percent.
The growth in industrial sales was driven by semiconductor, food and beverage, rubber and plastics industries.
Meralco officials previously forecasted a slightly softer sales volume growth this year of 4.5 percent, compared to 4.9 percent last year.
“The way it is trending, we may be around not too far from what we saw last year,”Meralco president Oscar Reyes said early this year.
Meralco’s net income climbed 14 percent in the first half to P11.973 billion from P10.501 billion a year ago, on a higher volume of energy sold.
Core net income also rose 7 percent in the first six months to P10.851 billion from P10.118 billion in the same period last year. Core net income includes the effects of foreign exchange gains or losses, mark-to-market adjustments and other one-time exception transactions.
Consolidated revenues reached P150.5 billion in January to June, up 7 percent from P141 billion in the same period last year, on the combined effect of a 7-percent increase in volume of energy sold and increased generation charge brought about by higher fuel prices, the weakening of the peso vis-a-vis the US dollar to pesos, higher consumer price index and higher prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market.
Meralco’s customer base grew by almost 5 percent to 6.5 million by end-June, as new connections across all customer classes increased by 294,000 year-on-year.
Meralco president Oscar Reyes said the company was closely watching “emerging headwinds”, possible implications on the country’s robust growth trajectory and targets and any resulting impact on electricity demand and sales.
“These headwinds include higher fuel and commodity prices, exchange rates, interest rates, and inflation, as wells frictions in the global cooperation investment and trade environments,” Reyes said.
Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan did not provide a forecast for full-year financial results, as he preferred to wait for the third-quarter results.
“We are slightly cautious about the second half. Issues surrounding inflation led by higher fuel prices, commodity prices, could possibly dampen consumer demand and also the behavior of temperature this year is much lower than last year,” Pangilinan said earlier.
“2018 is looking like a better year compared to 2017. You’ve seen the first-half numbers…So far, apart from economic conditions, there is no reason it will not continue to see better results,” he said.