THE Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) likely surpassed its 2014 profit guidance of P17.8 billion, a top company official said.
“I think we are on track to be slightly better,” Meralco President Oscar Reyes said. When pressed for more details, Reyes said Meralco is “hopeful” that it can report more than P17.8 billion.
Meralco has yet to report its 2014 financial performance. At end-September last year, it posted P14.3 billion in core income and P14.308 in reported net income.
If and when Meralco meets its core profit target of P17.8 billion last year, this will be higher than the P17.023-billion core profit it reported in 2013.
Earlier, Reyes said, Meralco electricity sales for 2014 is expected to grow by 3 percent on account of
higher usage from industrial customers, which registered the highest increase. “We will end the year with roughly a 3-percent growth in sales volume,” Reyes said, adding that commercial accounts also contributed to the growth, mainly from new connections and increased consumption.
Reyes said the last quarter of 2014 is expected to register a-little-over- 5-percent growth in sales volume.
October sales stood flat at 5.2 percent, while November sales stood at 6.6 percent, Reyes added.
He said 2014 was a “relatively good year” for Meralco because of stable power supply and lower rates.
“There had been no major disruption and supply was always available. Prices were also lower. In fact, we just had our lowest generation charge recently,” Reyes explained.
For this year, he said 2015 will be a “challenging” year for the utility firm because of the impending power shortage feared to happen during the summer months.
“It is going to be a very challenging year for us and for the industry. The challenge lies in the power supply,” Reyes had earlier said. Meralco customers grew to 5.5 million at end-September. In terms of energy sales mix, commercial accounts for 39 percent of total sales, with residential and industrial at 30 percent and 31 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, Meralco launched on Wednesday its Power Lab, a two-level multipurpose facility that can test the power consumption of appliances and gadgets to educate Filipinos about electricity usage and help them understand the impact of energy management in their daily lives. The Meralco Power Lab houses an equipment-testing laboratory, a demo area and an intelligent living space.
“We want our customers to visit the Meralco Power Lab to discover how much electricity typical home appliances and gadgets consume, and realize how this impacts their household expenses,” Meralco Senior Vice President and Head of Customer Retail Services and Corporate Communications Al Panlilio said. “Hopefully, this will encourage them to become more conscious about electricity use and be more energy-efficient consumers.”
Image credits: Bloomberg