By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) Updated October 30, 2012 12:00 AM
MANILA, Philippines - Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) has again upgraded its projected profit for the entire year, which is now expected to reach P16 billion, due to strong sales.
The country’s largest power distributor also increased its long-term generation capacity target to 2,700 megawatts (MW) from 2,500 MW.
“Given Meralco’s performance to-date and the outlook for the rest of the year, we wish to advise our upgraded 2012 guidance for core earnings of P16 billion,” said Meralco chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.
“We are trending towards P1 billion to P1.1 billion in core income per month at the moment so we are upgrading [the guidance],” Pangilinan said in a briefing.
In July, Meralco increased its projected full-year profit to P15.5 billion from P15 billion announced in April. Last year, the company recorded P14.9 billion in core earnings.
Core net income, which strips out currency and derivatives-related items, jumped 11 percent to P12.9 billion in the nine-month period from P11.9 billion last year.
Consolidated net income surged 37 percent to P13.6 billion from P10 billion last year. This reflected Meralco’s P759-million gain after selling its shares in upscale property developer Rockwell Land Corp.
Meralco CEO Oscar Reyes said consolidated sales in January to September rose 7.6 percent to 24,448 gigawatt-hours (gwh) from a year ago.
Industrial sales climbed 12.9 percent, commercial rose 5.7 percent and residential was up 5.1 percent.
Meralco said sales were driven by “the higher volume of electricity distributed as well as the higher average purchased power price during the period.”
Consolidated customer accounts rose 3.5 percent to a record 5.16 million as of end-September as the company added 130,042 new customers from the start of the year.
In the nine-month period, Meralco said it spent 5.9 billion for power-related projects like the installation of new substations that will decongest critical loads and improve network reliability.
Meanwhile, Meralco, through subsidiary Meralco PowerGen Corp., is looking at generating 2,700 MW of electricity from now until 2020.
“With healthy demand we are seeing, there is a concern in the supply-demand particularly over the next three years,” Reyes said.
He said Meralco PowerGen is looking at liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants given the government’s promotion of the fuel source.
Last year, Meralco PowerGen said it targets a generation capacity of 1,500 MW, which was increased to 2,500 MW this year.
Reyes said total investment for two coal-fired power plants is $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion.
This includes the 600-MW coal-fired power plant in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in partnership with Aboitiz Power Corp. and the local unit of Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.
Reyes said the company wants to build four 375-MW LNG power plants.
“Our intent in all of these is go on a joint venture with strategic partners,” Reyes said. source
The country’s largest power distributor also increased its long-term generation capacity target to 2,700 megawatts (MW) from 2,500 MW.
“Given Meralco’s performance to-date and the outlook for the rest of the year, we wish to advise our upgraded 2012 guidance for core earnings of P16 billion,” said Meralco chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan.
“We are trending towards P1 billion to P1.1 billion in core income per month at the moment so we are upgrading [the guidance],” Pangilinan said in a briefing.
In July, Meralco increased its projected full-year profit to P15.5 billion from P15 billion announced in April. Last year, the company recorded P14.9 billion in core earnings.
Core net income, which strips out currency and derivatives-related items, jumped 11 percent to P12.9 billion in the nine-month period from P11.9 billion last year.
Consolidated net income surged 37 percent to P13.6 billion from P10 billion last year. This reflected Meralco’s P759-million gain after selling its shares in upscale property developer Rockwell Land Corp.
Meralco CEO Oscar Reyes said consolidated sales in January to September rose 7.6 percent to 24,448 gigawatt-hours (gwh) from a year ago.
Industrial sales climbed 12.9 percent, commercial rose 5.7 percent and residential was up 5.1 percent.
Meralco said sales were driven by “the higher volume of electricity distributed as well as the higher average purchased power price during the period.”
Consolidated customer accounts rose 3.5 percent to a record 5.16 million as of end-September as the company added 130,042 new customers from the start of the year.
In the nine-month period, Meralco said it spent 5.9 billion for power-related projects like the installation of new substations that will decongest critical loads and improve network reliability.
Meanwhile, Meralco, through subsidiary Meralco PowerGen Corp., is looking at generating 2,700 MW of electricity from now until 2020.
“With healthy demand we are seeing, there is a concern in the supply-demand particularly over the next three years,” Reyes said.
He said Meralco PowerGen is looking at liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants given the government’s promotion of the fuel source.
Last year, Meralco PowerGen said it targets a generation capacity of 1,500 MW, which was increased to 2,500 MW this year.
Reyes said total investment for two coal-fired power plants is $2.5 billion to $2.6 billion.
This includes the 600-MW coal-fired power plant in the Subic Bay Freeport Zone in partnership with Aboitiz Power Corp. and the local unit of Taiwan Cogeneration International Corp.
Reyes said the company wants to build four 375-MW LNG power plants.
“Our intent in all of these is go on a joint venture with strategic partners,” Reyes said. source
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