Meralco Q1 core net income up 5%

MANILA, Philippines—Manila Electric Co. posted a 5-percent increase in its consolidated core net income to P3.4 billion in the first quarter from P3.3 billion last year.

In a briefing, Meralco senior vice president and chief finance officer Betty C. Siy-Yap said the increase was fueled by a 10-percent rise in the volume of electricity sold in the first three months of the year. This was attributed to a “better than expected economic environment, continuing strong inflow of remittances from OFWs and revenue inflows of business process outsourcing entities, benign inflation and slightly warmer temperature.”

The increase in sales volume to 7,687 gigawatt-hours can also be attributed to the higher number of billed customers, which reached 5.07 million as of end March.

Consolidated revenue grew by 16 percent to P65.6 billion from year-ago level.

“The 10 percent increase in energy sales realized, although not unprecedented, was better than expected. However, the collective efforts of our more than 6,000-strong workforce, consisting largely of our engineers and linemen who have managed to maintain a highly reliable network, should not go unnoticed. Coupled with these are the uncompromising yet innovative efforts of our customer interface organizations,” said Meralco president and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan.

“Meralco no longer passively waits for a customer to apply for a connection. As we continue to outperform, we are looking further by bringing our expertise to other franchise areas and entering the power generation space. While sales in the coming quarters may be somewhat uncertain, especially with the onset of the rainy season, we are currently preparing our facilities to ensure minimal downtime,” he added.

According to Pangilinan, Meralco is maintaining its profit guidance of P15 billion for 2012 and energy sales volume increase of 3 percent this year.