Meralco Q1 profit up 26%; energy sales beat prepandemic level

MANILA  -The country’s largest power distributor, Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), grew its net income by 26 percent to P8.07 billion in January to March this year as the reopening of the economy improved energy sales.

At a company financial briefing, Meralco chair Manuel Pangilinan said 2023 “is looking good” and expressed confidence that the utility firm could attain a double-digit growth this year.

Excluding nonrecurring items, core net income surged by 40 percent to P9 billion, while cash flow increased by 28 percent to P15.2 billion.

“Meralco’s operational and financial performance in this first quarter indicate that we are off to a good start,” said Pangilinan in a statement on Monday.

“However, we recognize that supply challenges in the energy sector, which include the depletion of the Malampaya gas field, the country’s reliance on volatile imported fuel and peso depreciation, will put continuing upward pressure on power prices,” he added.

Confidence back

Meralco president and CEO Ray Espinosa said given a projected rise in sales volume, they would pursue strategic energy sourcing activities to meet medium- and long-term requirements.

“The growth in our energy sales volume, particularly the strong performance of the commercial segment, signifies that public confidence has returned and demand for power will certainly continue to increase,” added Espinosa.

Meralco’s first-quarter consolidated revenue jumped by 23 percent to P105.6 billion from the past year, buoyed by higher pass-through charges due to higher natural gas prices, higher contribution from its power generation business and growth in volumes.

Energy sales inched up by 2 percent to 11,287 gigawatt-hours, still above prepandemic levels, “as the continued recovery of business operations and resumption of social activities” sustained its growth.

The commercial segment delivered an 11 percent sales increase while residential and industrial segments dropped by 3 percent each. The share of the commercial segment climbed to 37 percent while that of residential and industrial declined to 33 percent and 30 percent, respectively.

Generation business

Meralco PowerGen Corp. added P3.7 billion to the utility firm’s profit due to the strong contribution of PacificLight Power Pte. Ltd. and San Buenaventura Power Ltd. Co. Global Business Power Corp. made a turnaround from a net loss in the previous year.

During the period, the average retail rate reached P10.41 per kilowatt-hour, up by 17 percent.

Generation charge, accounting for about 68 percent of the retail rate, went up by 33 percent. Transmission charge went up by 6 percent while taxes and other charges rose by 13 percent. Only distribution charges decreased by 30 percent.

Meanwhile, total customer count reached 7.7 million, 3 percent higher, “as energization of new customers for both ordinary service and project-covered applications further continued.” INQ

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