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Meralco’s 2019 power sales rose over 5%

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Power retailer Manila Electric Co. said electricity sales in 2019 grew faster than the previous year’s 5.3-percent expansion.

“Energy sales in 2019 was better than last 2018’s 5.3 percent growth,” Meralco first vice president and head of customer retail services and corporate communications Victor Emmanuel Genuino said.

Genuino did not provide full figures, but said residential sales were very strong in 2019.

Meralco expects to end the year with a core net income of P23 billion.

“There is no doubt that Meralco has performed responsively in respect of its franchise mandate to provide power at least, while maintaining highly reliable and resilient facilities. With the combined efforts of the entire organization and our subsidiaries, we expect to end 2019 with consolidated core net income of over P23 billion,” Meralco chairman Manuel Pangilinan said earlier.

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The company announced an 11-percent increase in core net income to P18.5 billion in the first nine months of 2019 from P16.7 billion in the same period in 2018.

Meralco’s reported net income, adjusted to exclude the effects of foreign exchange gains or losses and other transactions, reached P18.3 billion in the said period, up 1 percent from P18.212 billion a year ago.

The company posted a 6-percent sales growth fin the nine-month period to reach 35,005 gigawatt-hours with residential customers posting the highest growth of 8 percent, followed by commercial at 6 percent and industrial at 5 percent.

A low inflation rate of 2.8 percent in the first nine months, a more favorable interest rate environment, stable foreign remittances and a growing services sector provided the backdrop for the stable growth in sales volume.

“The 6 percent and 11 percent volume growths within the Meralco and Clark Electric franchise areas, respectively are testaments of the robust distribution systems we have built and maintained, even while we await further regulatory approvals for capital expenditures filed,”  Pangilinan said.

“Manageable inflation together with increased liquidity in the financial system provides opportunities for growth across all customer segments,” Pangilinan said.

Electricity revenues reached P235.4 billion in the nine-month period, up 6 percent from a year earlier.

“The core distribution business, which continues to drive the growth of Meralco, shall be supported by the contribution from Meralco PowerGen’s San Buenaventura Power Ltd. beginning Sept. 26, 2019 when it declared commercial operations. SBPL going online, on schedule and within the budgeted project cost is no mean feat given multiple challenges through project conceptualization, developments and construction completion,” Meralco president Ray Espinosa said.

The company had 6.8 million customers as of end-September 2019, up 4 percent year-on-year.

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