By Lenie Lectura - July 24, 2019
THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco)
sees “better” financial results in the first half of the year, mainly on
account of improved electricity sales.
“It’s better than last year, helped
by the volume,” said Meralco Chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan after the ceremonial
switch-on ceremony of its Cagbalete microgrid project.
He said electricity sales volume
grew “better than historic average.”
“It is good but not double digit,”
added the Meralco executive.
The country’s largest distribution
utility firm will announce Monday its first-half financial and operating
results.
From January to June 2018, Meralco’s
core profit went up by 7 percent to P10.85 billion.
Revenues, meanwhile, stood P150.54
billion, 7 percent higher compared with P141 billion for the same period in
2017. The higher revenues are seen as the result of the combined effects of the
following: 7-percent increase in volume of energy sold; increased generation
charge brought about by higher fuel prices; weakening of the peso vis-a-vis the
US dollar; higher local Consumer Price Index; and higher prices in the
Wholesale Electricity Spot Market (WESM).
During the period, electricity sales
went up by 6.5 percent to 21,665 gigawatt hours (GWh).
Pangilinan, meanwhile, commented
that renewable energy (RE) will play a significant role in Meralco’s power
portfolio, following President Duterte’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) the
other day. He also commented that the Chief Executive delivered a “very good”
speech.
He said RE would be a big part of
Meralco’s portfolio. Gas and coal, he said, represent 40 percent each of
Meralco’s power sourcing requirements to date.
Duterte, in his Sona, reiterated the
need for the country to develop more RE sources and reduce dependence on
traditional energy sources such as coal.
Meralco, through its power-generation
arm, is pushing for the completion of 1,000 megawatts (MW) of renewable-energy
projects in the next five to seven years.
As part of this plan, MGEN Renewable
Energy Inc. has been established to serve as the platform for the strategic
push to develop renewable-energy projects, primarily solar, wind and
run-of-river hydro.
Meralco President Ray Espinosa said
on Wednesday that the utility firm is in talks with a number of RE developers.
“That’s ongoing. We will able to
announce one soon on solar,” he said.
No comments:
Post a Comment