Power retailer Manila Electric Co. said Monday consolidated core net income fell 11 percent in the first quarter to P5.1 billion from P5.7 billion in the same period last year as electricity sales declined 4 percent.
Meralco said reported net income jumped 66 percent in the first quarter to P4.3 billion from P2.6 billion a year ago, mainly because of the recognition of its share in the impairment of investment in PacificLight Power Pte Ltd. of P2.7 billion.
Meralco chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap said the large difference between core and reported income “is due largely to foreign exchange gain, gain on investment on our 14 percent equity stake in GBPC [Global Business Power Corp.] which has been adjusted to reflect the latest purchase agreement”.
Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan said while 2021 began with hopes for a restart in the economy, the recent surge in the number of infections and its toll on the country’s healthcare system and delay in the arrival of vaccines pushed back expectations of an early economic recovery.
“As such, we continue to revisit and recalibrate our strategies, priorities and plans. As we do so, we re-affirm our commitment to our customers to keep the lights on,” said Pangilinan.
Gross revenues reached P64.71 billion in the first quarter, down 6.8 percent from P69.47 billion a year earlier as sales volume dropped 4 percent to 10,473 gigawatt-hours. This included volume distributed by Clark Electric Distribution Corp.
“Despite the continued strong sales from residential customers and recovery of industrial sales, the commercial sales sector, however, contracted as restaurants, malls, hotels are not yet operating at their pre-pandemic level,” Siy-Yap said.
Meralco said the general community quarantine and the re-imposition of the enhanced community quarantine beginning March 29 saw residential volumes taking a bigger share in the total volumes sold as work-from-home arrangement and stay-at-home policies prevailed throughout the first quarter.
Residential customers accounted for almost 35 percent of consolidated sales volumes at 3,616 gWh. The share of industrial sales volumes was at 31 percent, representing 3,261 gWh in the first quarter, two percentage points higher than the share in the same period in 2020.
Industrial sales volumes bounced back, reflecting a 4-percent quarter-on-quarter growth with the increased demand for steel and cement. Commercial sales volumes were at 34 percent, compared with 40 percent in 2020 with total volume at 3,560 gWh.
Commercial volumes from the retail and recreation sectors showed some improvements in the first quarter as mobility was eased for supermarkets and pharmacies, prior to the re-imposition of GCQ towards the end of March 4.
Meralco’s customer count grew 4 percent to 7.2 million for a total year-on-year addition of 249,000 net new accounts.