Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest power retailer, said Monday consolidated net income rose 10.3 percent in the first quarter to P5.3 billion from P4.8 billion a year ago, on higher electricity sales.
Meralco said revenues grew 6.4 percent in January to March to P70.8 billon from P66.576 billion in the same period last year, as the hotter temperature this year led to higher power demand.
Consolidated core net income increased 9 percent to P4.9 billion from P4.6 billion as Meralco delivered 10,145 gigawatt-hours in the first quarter.
Meralco attributed the higher core income to flat operating and maintenance expenses and adjustment of provisions for impairment of certain trade receivables during the period.
“Our first-quarter billed volume growth of 9 percent is encouraging and indicative of continuing strong economic growth. Domestic consumption and investment expenditures remain rather strong, the prospect of regional stability with recent developments in North and South Korea and the friendly tone in Philippine-China relations add to this positive view,” Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan said.
Industrial customers saw highest sales volume at 11 percent to 3,014 gWh, followed by residential at 9 percent to 2,997 gWh and commercial at 8 percent to 3,979 gWh.
Commercial sales volume accounted for 40 percent in the first quarter, while residential and industrial represented 30 percent, each.
Commercial sales volume was driven by real estate, retail trade and hotel and restaurant business. Industrial sales volume rose largely on account of semiconductor, food and beverage and rubber and plastics industries.
Residential customers grew 5 percent to 6.5 million, with 290,000 new accounts.
Meralco said the contribution of subsidiaries was minimal in the first quarter due to delays in the award of contracts. Meralco PowerGen Corp., the generation arm of Meralco, continued to spend for development and pre-operating expenses while waiting for approval of its power supply agreements at the Energy Regulatory Commission.
“We are seeing a surge in demand for power, which is happening as well for other goods and services, putting an increasing strain on our electricity distribution and generation infrastructure,” Pangilinan said.
Outages of a number of baseload plants and strong demand during peak hours reflected higher prices at the Wholesale Electricity Spot Market, the country’s trading floor for electricity .