By Lenie Lectura - October 16, 2018
THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
recorded a 5-percent increase in electricity sales from January to September
this year as against the same period a year ago.
Meralco Senior Vice President
Alfredo Panlilio said on Monday the utility firm sold 32,530 gigawatt-hours at
end-September this year, up 5 percent from last year.
He attributed the growth in
electricity sales to the company’s “strong first-half” results, which posed a
14-percent increase in earnings to P11.97 billion at end-June this year.
From January to June this year,
electricity sales went up by 6.5 percent to 21,665 GW.
Meralco Chairman Manuel V.
Pangilinan said 2018 is going to be “a better year than 2017.”
“So far, apart from economic
conditions, there’s no reason Meralco should not perform better,” Pangilinan
had said.
Pangilinan noted that during the
second half of the year, the economy continues to expand, boosted by strong
consumer spending and the growth in the service industry, and even the
industrial sectors. Also, the ramping up of government infrastructure projects
is expected to further lift the country’s growth prospects.
“Consumer wallets continue to expand
as money sent home by overseas Filipinos continue to grow, as well as from
employment generated by BPOs and POGOs. These have continued to drive the
growth of commercial and residential-energy sales volumes. However, economic
headwinds from higher fuel and commodity prices, higher exchange and interest
rates, and inflation remind us to remain vigilant and cautious about our own
growth targets, investments and spending,” he said.
The utility firm also registered 6.5
million customers by end-June, almost five percent higher, as new
connections across all customer classes increased by 294,000 year-on-year.
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