Meralco sales grow by 3.2%

Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest power distributor, has recorded a 3.2-percent growth in its sales volume in the first four months of the year.

According to Meralco president Oscar S. Reyes, the 9.2-percent surge in sales volume in April helped buoy the company’s four-month sales, offsetting the “fairly lackluster first quarter results.”

The distribution utility earlier said it expected to grow its electricity sales volume by 4.5 percent in the first half of the year, slower than the 10-percent growth recorded in the same period last year.

Meanwhile, Reyes said Tuesday that the planned 600-megawatt coal-fired power plant of Redondo Peninsula Energy Inc., of which Meralco is a major shareholder, was critical in easing the expected tight power supply in Luzon by 2016.

Reyes said the company would pursue the $1.28-billion coal facility despite the Writ of Kalikasan slapped against the project.

Reyes said that the Subic coal project will have a huge impact not only on stabilizing demand and supply in Luzon by 2016, but also on helping temper electricity price hikes.

The Writ of Kalikasan, which was issued by the Supreme Court in July last year, was filed before the high court by Kabataan party list Rep. Raymond Palatino, Bayan Muna Rep. Teodoro Casiño, Gabriela Rep. Emerenciana de Jesus, Anakpawis Rep. Rafael Mariano and environmental groups led by Kalikasan president Clemente Bautista Jr.

They said the Subic coal project would violate the constitutional rights of the residents of host and surrounding communities to “a balanced and healthful ecology.”

But last December, RP Energy was able to secure the much awaited environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the second 300-MW unit of the said power project within the Subic Bay Freeport.