By Lenie Lectura - November 26, 2018
MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) is
expecting electricity demand this year to grow by 4.5 to 5 percent from 2017.
“We’ll probably end this year at
about 4.5 percent to 5 percent. I think we have to see what the final November
and December figures are, but call it a 4.5-percent to 5-percent growth
from last year,” Meralco President Oscar Reyes said.
This year’s energy sales growth
could be attributed to increased consumption from all consumer segments, he
said.
In 2017 energy sales volumes grew
by 5 percent to 42,102 gigawatt hours brought about by a growing customer base,
positive economic conditions, stable power supply and low power-plant outages
during the year.
This was underpinned by customer
retail and network initiatives to accelerate new customer acquisitions and
energization, and to minimize distribution-system interruption, Meralco said.
Without providing figures, Reyes
said Meralco earnings this year will improve from last year.
“Compared to 2017, I think because
of this volume growth, we expect a slightly better bottom line,” he said.
The utility firm posted a net income
of P20.4 billion last year, up 6 percent from the previous year mainly due to
higher electricity sales.
Core income also improved by 3
percent to P20.2 billion at end-2017, from 2016’s P19.6 billion.
Last year’s revenue was 10 percent
higher at P282.55 billion, from P257.18 billion in 2016. Electricity revenues
amounted to P275.2 billion, while the remaining P59.6 billion accounted for
distribution revenue.
Reyes said sales growth is against a
high base last year.
“We have to recognize that 2017 and
2018 are high base years so you cannot continue to grow at a same rate if your
preceding year is a high base,” he explained.
The Meralco official noted
developments in the sector that could slow down electricity consumption. These
include cooler temperature, higher inflation, interest rates, weaker peso and
increasing adoption of rooftop solar, battery and energy storage, which
adversely affected consumer spending.
“These are headwinds that
potentially mean that growth in electricity may decelerate. These will impact
not only demand for electricity but also demand for products and services,”
Reyes noted.
Inflation has been rising since the
beginning of the year, with the highest level for the year at 6.7 percent
registered in September this year, the highest since February 2009. Reel-feel
temperature for the first nine months of the year was lower by 0.05 degrees
Centigrade, compared with the same period in 2017 while the average temperature
for the period was lower by 0.39 °C.
Meralco, at end-September this year,
recorded 6.5 million customers.
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