Manila Electric Co., the biggest retailer of electricity, expressed optimism energy sales this year will exceed the 6-percent volume growth achieved in 2021 as more commercial and industrial businesses open up.
“Six percent is achievable and more if commercial picks up because, well, industrial sales continue to be robust,” Meralco first vice president and chief commercial officer Ferdinand Geluz.
Geluz said Meralco is still finalizing February sales, “but all indications lead to an increase of 6 percent at least for Meralco, so we estimate Meralco volume to be more than 3,700 gigawatt-hours.”
Early this week, Meralco reported a 13-percent increase in consolidated core net income in 2021 to P24.6 billion from P21.7 billion in 2020. This was driven by the return of energy sales volumes to near pre-pandemic levels and contributions from the power generation business.
Consolidated distribution utility energy sales volumes went up 6 percent to 46,073 gWh in 2021 from 43,572 gWh in 2020.