Meralco income surges to P4B in Q1, up 19.3%

Manila Electric Co.’s consolidated net income in the first quarter grew 19.3 percent to P4.02 billion, from P3.37 billion in the same period last year, mainly on higher energy sales.

Meralco chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said in a briefing Monday that the first quarter results were “slightly ahead” of expectations.

The country’s largest power distribution utility, which is controlled by Hong Kong-based First Pacific Group, also reported a 17.7 percent increase in core net income, which rose to P4.02 billion in the first three months of the year from P3.42 billion in the same period last year.

Meralco attributed the profit growth to the sustained increase in new customers, energization of new real estate developments such as the Pagcor Entertainment City and increased consumption driven by remittances of overseas Filipino workers and the business process outsourcing sector.

In terms of electricity sales volume, Meralco reported 1.2 percent increase to 7,777 gigawatt-hours from 7,687 gigawatt-hours during the period.

However, revenues slowed down by 1.5 percent to P64.16 billion from P65.12 billion due to lower power supply cost from the company’s new suppliers, which was slightly offset by the “moderate” increase in energy sales volume.

Meralco’s power supply costs are passed on to consumers.

Meralco’s average rates dropped by P0.03 to P9.32 per kilowatt-hour.

Customer numbers, meanwhile, reached 5.23 million as of end-March 2013, having grown 3.3 percent or by more than 165,000 new accounts since March 2012.

For the rest of the year, Pangilinan declined to give specific targets on sales and income targets until the second-quarter results have been reported, citing erratic demand for power.

April was a growth period, he said, with a 7.8 percent growth in sales but it remains to be seen whether sales volume will increase enough for the rest of the year to make up for cheaper rates.

SVP Alfredo Panlilio said April sales growth was attributed to residential customers’ increased use of appliances to cope with high temperatures, the resumption of operations of cement and steel plants that were down on maintenance in March, and the start of operations of Solaire hotel and casino in Pagcor City.

Meralco, which posted a 9-percent increase in core net income to P16.3 billion in 2012 from P14.9 billion in 2011 on the back of higher electricity sales, also seeks to acquire a Singaporean power firm in partnership with Hong Kong-based investment holding First Pacific Co. Ltd.