Meralco Projects 3% Sales Growth

Manila Bulletin
By MYRNA M. VELASCO
March 1, 2012, 3:05am


MANILA, Philippines — Amid foreseen business challenges, power utility giant Manila Electric Company (Meralco) is projecting 3.0-percent sales growth this year to be driven mainly by the expansion of its customer base and economic activities.


“Our forecast for volume sales will be about 3.0-percent, on the basis of economic growth and increased customer count for the rest of 2012,” Meralco president and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan said.


It will be some sort of a rebound from a lackluster 1.0-percent sales growth it logged in 2011 for a volume turnover of 30,592 gigawatt hours.


The company’s overall revenues, Pangilinan indicated “will be under pressure because as you see our rates for 2012 and for the rest of our regulatory period will be flattish.”


He is referring to the utility firm’s five-year tariff schedules approved by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) based on performance-based regulation (PBR) methodology.


We do have to rely on volume growth, which is a function of economics and customer count to increase our revenues,” he explained further.


Meralco’s customer base already reached 5.3 million.


The company chief executive qualified that “2012 seems challenging” but “profit opportunities will be exciting.”


Beyond increased energy sales, the company also latches on prospects that will be contributed by its planned trading as retail electricity supplier (RES) under the open access regime of the restructured electricity sector.


Pangilinan added that they are looking forward to an “even better performance of our subsidiaries to bring better results.”


The company’s acquisition ventures is similarly being buoyed, in tandem with planned completion of its power projects – primarily the 600-megawatt coal power plant in Subic and its proposed investment foray into liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility, which are being undertaken by its subsidiary Meralco PowerGen.


The company disclosed it is “working in the pre-development of other new clean coal, natural gas, liquefied natural gas and hydro power generating projects in collaboration with established players in the industry.” (MMV)