Aboitiz Power Corp. posted a 15-percent increase in its core net income in the first nine months of 2012 to P17.9 billion, due largely to the increase in power demand during the period.
The company’s core net income included a P1.2- billion nonrecurring gain from the revaluation of group-wide dollar-denominated loans and placements and a P668-million one-off losses during the nine-month period, APC said in a statement.
For the third quarter alone, APC’s core net income rose by 13 percent to P6.4 billion from year-ago levels.
“APC’s third quarter results reflected the higher demand coming from both our generation and distribution businesses. This was further boosted by higher Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM) prices. We also saw improvement in the distribution margins with the implementation of Performance Based Regulation (PBR) and reduction of systems loss,” said APC president and CEO Erramon Aboitiz.
APC’s power generation business contributed P17.2 billion, or the bulk of the company’s core net income, for the first nine months of the year.
The hotter climate was one of the major factors that led to the increase in power requirements. The group’s average power rate increased by 6 percent year on year in January to September. This was on the back of a 38-percent rise in the average selling price of electricity at the Luzon Grid’s WESM.
As of the end of September, APC’s attributable net generation grew by 10 percent year on year to 7,903 gigawatt-hours, from 7,175 gWh. On a capacity basis, APC’s attributable sales increased by 12 percent in the first nine months to 1,562 MW from 1,397 MW in the same period last year, given the rising capacity sales through bilateral contracts.
The partial completion of the rehabilitation of the Binga hydropower facilities (two of four units), coupled with the commercial operation of the 4-MW Irisan greenfield run-of-river hydropower plant in Benguet resulted in a marginal increase in APC’s attributable capacity to 2,353 MW during the period stated.—Amy R. Remo