Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) recorded a 15-percent improvement in its core net income in the first nine months of 2021 to P18.06 billion from P15.73 billion in the same period last year.
Meralco attributed this to the combined effects of the increased energy distributed and the easing of quarantine restrictions as well as better contributions from business units and subsidiaries.
Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan expressed confidence the company’s full core net income this year can surpass last year’s P21.7 billion but noted the recent significant rise in fuel prices can have an impact.
“The sudden but significant rise in fuel prices across the board — gas, coal and oil which can impact generation margins, as well as the lingering effect of the pandemic remain key risks to our outlook for the fourth quarter,” Pangilinan said.
Meralco’s energy sales for the period posted a 6 percent increase with 34,398 gigawatt hours (GWh) from the previous year’s 32,539 GWh.
Residential sales volume grew by 2 percent and accounted for 37 percent of total sales volume for the period. Commercial sales volume increased by 2 percent and accounted for 33 percent while industrial went up by 16 percent with its 30 percent share.
Meralco said residential energy sales volume increased driven by electricity applications from socialized and mass-housing customers .
The company’s customer count reached 7.35 million for the period, a 4 percent increase from 7.02 million for the similar period in 2020.
Peak demand for the period also went up by 3 percent, hitting 7,808 megawatts (MW) from 7,614 MW, as revenues also experienced an 11 percent growth to P225.4 billion from P203.01 billion in 2020.
