Meralco sales volume up 2%

MANILA, Philippines - Power distributor Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) said its sales volume in the first two months of the year grew about two percent compared to a year ago.

 “Sales for January and February were about two percent higher than the first two months of last year,” said Meralco president Oscar Reyes.

He said  while the month of January saw low demand because of too many holidays  such as the visit of Pope Francis, the month of February saw demand grew about 2.5 percent.

Reyes expressed hopes the entire first quarter would grow by at least 2.5 percent over the same period a year ago on the back of continuous growth in customers.

Last year, Meralco’s customers grew by 200,000 to 5.6 percent or a growth of four percent.

The company posted a consolidated reported net income of P18.1 billion last year or five percent higher than 2013’s figures.

Electricity sales volume last year stood at 35,160 gigawatt hours or three percent more than in 2013, due largely to the combined commercial and industrial volumes of Meralco and its subsidiary Clark Electric Distribution Corp. as well as to an increase in customer base by four percent to 5.6 million.

Energy sales increased, although at a lower rate of 3.2 percent.

Officials said sales would have been higher if not for several factors such as cooler temperature in January to April 2014, disruptive typhoons such as Glenda and Ruby, and a thinning power supply reserves precluded consolidated energy sales, which grew only three percent over 2013 to 35,160 gwh, from mirroring the strong 6.1 percent growth of the Philippine economy,” Meralco said in its report.

As a result, consolidated electricity revenues stood at P261.7 billion last year or 11 percent lower year-on-year.

 “Although lower by P33.1 billion or 11 percent year-on-year, electricity revenues of P261.7 billion in 2014 remain to be the largest component of consolidated revenues, accounting for 98 percent. The lower consolidated electricity revenues in 2014 are attributable to the loss of the pass-through supply revenue component on the electricity of contestable customers who switched their sourcing of power to other retail electricity suppliers under retail competition and open access and the P9.3 billion downward adjustment in 2014 in the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market bill for December 2013 supply volumes,” Meralco reported.