MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) is expecting a drop in power sales as majority of its big clients have limited their operations due to the enhanced community quarantine.
“We’re still finalizing the numbers but we see a big decline in demand particularly from the commercial and industrial sectors since the start of the quarantine period… Hard for residential to cover the drop in demand of industrial and commercial customers,” said Victor Genuino, Meralco first vice president and head of customer retail services and corporate communications.
Last year, Meralco’s energy sales rose by 5.8 percent to 46,871 gigawatt hours (GWh) from the previous year’s 44,313 GWh, attributed to the combined contribution across all sectors and the effects of rapid expansions from Philippine offshore gaming operators.
Residential sales, with a share of 31.1 percent, grew by 7.6 percent backed by an increase from organic and new customers, while commercial account, which contributes 39.4 percent, rose by 5.8 percent through power consumption from real estate, retail trade, hotels and restaurants.
Industrial sales, which represent 29.3 percent of the total energy sales volume, went up by 3.8 percent due to more power demand from rubber and plastic manufacturing as well as food and beverage.
Meralco’s customer count for the period reached 6.883 million, a 4.1 percent increase against last year’s 6.615 million.
Residential customers, representing 92.1 percent of the pool, grew by 4.2 percent; commercial with 7.7 percent share went up by 2.8 percent; and industrial customers, contributing 0.2 percent, increased by 2.1 percent.
