The Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is projecting record power sales and income rising 5 percent in the second half this year and at least 4 percent for the full year.
This was bared by Ferdinand Geluz, Meralco first vice president and chief commercial officer for customer retail services, who said the projected numbers are driven by higher residential and commercial sales.
According to Geluz, Meralco also had discussions with the power-intensive Semiconductor and Electronics Industries in the Philippines Foundation Inc. (SEIPI) whose members anticipate a “rebound” in their manufacturing activities in the second half.
“We’re projecting close to 5 percent growth in the second half, mainly driven by residential and commercial sales,” Geluz said.
Meralco earlier projected income north of last year’s P27.1 billion.
But while sanguine about sales, the company said power rates in August may ease due to lower demand for power and favorable wholesale electricity spot market (WESM) prices, among other reasons.
“While we have yet to receive the final billing from our suppliers, we expect a possible decrease in the generation charge this month. We’ve seen reduced demand in the last supply month, which likely led to lower WESM prices,” said Joe Zaldarriaga, Meralco vice president and head of corporate communications.
“The quarterly repricing of Malampaya will also reflect the lower crude prices over the past six months. The peso appreciation, which affects suppliers’ costs that are mostly dollar denominated, will also help further pull down the generation charge. We are optimistic that these factors would be enough to bring down the overall electricity rate for this month,” Zaldarriaga said.
Meralco is yet to announce this month’s official power rate movement but if the projected drop proceeds, it will be the second consecutive decline with last month’s P0.7213 per kilowatt hour reduction.
