Meralco sees even greater rise in 2024 sales despite looming La Niña

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) now expects a bigger improvement of its overall energy sales for the full year as the distributor giant anticipates higher electricity demand considering record temperatures seen amid the prevailing El Niño climate phenomenon.

Ferdinand Geluz, Meralco senior vice president and chief revenue officer, said the listed firm is now projecting electricity sales to grow by 5 percent to 6 percent, from an initial estimate of 4.7 percent.

In the second quarter alone, Geluz said the listed firm expects “robust” growth with energy sales poised to rise by 6 percent and 8 percent.

“That gives us good first-half numbers,” Geluz said.

He added that Meralco still sees growth in the third quarter although it will be a bit tempered by La Niña.

El Niño is characterized by below-average rainfall and higher temperatures, prompting greater use of cooling appliances such as air conditioners and electric fans to beat the heat.

La Niña, on the other hand, is usually associated with above normal rainfall conditions and during this period, the demand for electricity decreases due to lower temperatures.

Swing in temperatures

Geluz said that, despite the swing in temperatures between El Niño and La Niña, “all in all, I think we’re looking at a very good year now in terms of sales.”

In 2023, Meralco reported a 4-percent increase in energy sales to 51,044 gigawatt-hours (gWh), driven by higher energy consumption among households due to El Niño along with business recovery and stronger demand from the hotels and leisure sectors.

In the January to March period this year alone, the power giant said energy sales rose by 9 percent to 12,307 gWh because of a similar confluence of factors, including higher temperatures due to the continuing El Niño, increased momentum of its recovering industrial segment, and an additional business day in February due to the leap year.

Meralco earlier said that about 2.5 gWh of consumption per day is noted for every degree rise in temperature.

According to the latest El Niño advisory from the weather bureau as of this writing, dated April 5, temperatures in Metro Manila could range higher at 21 to 38 degrees Celsius in April from 20.7 to 35.9 degrees in March.

Similarly, temperatures in the lowlands of Luzon were expected to range higher at 18 to 39.5 degrees in April from 15.4 to 38.4 degrees in March.

As of the first quarter, Meralco has 7.9 million customers across its coverage area, up by 2.7 percent. —Jordeene B. Lagare INQ