Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) expects data center energization and a recovery in the construction industry to drive sales growth in the second half of 2025
“We’re seeing some uptick in the construction industry, cement as well as glass. After a long period of downturn, we are now seeing small growth,” said Meralco senior vice president and chief revenue officer Ferdinand Geluz.
Geluz said some data centers energized last year would have tenants by the third quarter of 2025.
Meralco reported a 0.5-percent or “flattish” sales volume growth in the first half due to cooler temperatures and a high base compared to the previous year.
Geluz expects the impact of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) exit to “normalize” in the second half.
He said the POGO exit affected commercial subsegments like real estate and retail trade, citing residual impacts on condominium occupancy and small restaurants near POGO areas.
“On the second half, I think there will be some sort of a recovery,” Geluz said.
“The impact of POGO in the first half is not as worse because remember, when it was announced that POGO would stop operations by December, starting August we saw an abrupt drop,” he said.
Geluz said full-year sales would be slightly downgraded compared to last year.
“We know that even our economic forecast, I think, was downgraded by the government,” he said. “Energy sales, especially of Meralco, given that more than 50 percent of the GDP is being produced in a franchise, is actually correlated with the economic growth of the country.”
Geluz also noted Meralco is seeing the impact of solar rooftops on commercial and industrial users.
“Each megawatt of installed solar rooftop normally produces, let’s say, generically, about 1.3 gigawatt hours of electricity per year,” he said. “So technically, the impact is 325 megawatts, close to 400 gigawatt-hours on a yearly basis.”
Geluz said that based on first-half figures and second-half expectations, compared to last year, “it’s still positive but not the 4.5 percent we actually forecasted.”
