Manila Electric Co., the country’s largest power distributor, said Monday net profit in 2022 rose 21 percent on year to P28.4 billion, bolstered by higher electricity sales.
Consolidated energy sales volumes reached pre-pandemic levels last year, increasing 6 percent to 48,916 gigawatt-hours from 46,073 GWh the previous year. Sales volumes of Meralco and Clark Electric Distribution Corp. rose 6 percent and 16 percent, respectively.
Meralco said it also booked significant earnings from its gas-fired power plant in Singapore.
Group revenues soared 34 percent to P426.5 billion due mainly to higher pass-through charges, Meralco said. It added that average retail rate increased by 16 percent to P9.52 per kilowatt-hour from P8.24 per kWh due to higher global fuel prices that pushed up generation charges.
Meralco said average the distribution charge of P0.85 per kWh, which accounted for 9 percent of the retail rate, dropped by 41 percent following the implementation of refunds to customers that averaged P0.67 per kWh during the year. A total P38.8 billion out of the P48.3 billion refunds ordered by the Energy Regulatory Commission has already been returned. The entire refund is expected to complete in May.
Consolidated capital expenditures last year amounted to P42.6 billion, with P19 billion spent to network upgrade and expansion.
The board of Meralco on Monday approved the declaration of a final cash dividend of P11.028 a share to all shareholders of record as of March 29. The cash dividend, which will be paid on April 26, brings the total dividend declared out of the 2022 core net income to P16.834 a share equivalent to 70 percent of core earnings per share and a dividend yield of 6 percent based on the stock’s end-2022 price of P298.80.
