One clear sign came from tycoon Manuel V. Pangilinan-led Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country’s largest power retailer, which now expects full-year sales to decline by 0.4 to 0.8 percent—reversing earlier growth forecasts, said Ferdinand Geluz, chief revenue officer at Meralco.
The decline was due to a combination of cooler weather and weather-induced cancellations, but Geluz also underscored the lingering impact from the exodus of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, or POGOs.
Impact of POGOs, China tourists
“The vacuum created by the POGO exit is huge plus the residual impact on tourism,” Geluz said during the company’s quarterly briefing on Monday.
“I think the decline in tourism, especially the Chinese, is really significant as well as vacancies on condominium use occupied previously by the POGOs,” he added.
The crackdown on POGOs, once a major driver of office and residential take-up, also showed up in condominium energy use across Pasay and Parañaque.
‘Zero consumption” condos
Geluz reported that they saw a 15 percent increase in so-called “zero consumption condominiums,” which was equivalent to about 20,000 units.
“It increased from 165,000 to 185,000 zero consumption condominiums in that area,” he said.
It’s expected for Meralco’s sales growth to taper off as the weather cools. That’s why the company had already trimmed its energy volume target from 5 percent to 1–2 percent earlier this year.
The deeper cuts now being signaled point to a broader slowdown, particularly in the commercial and residential segments, although some subsegments such as restaurants and retail trade continue to grow, Geluz said.
Full-year profit goal intact
Despite the slowdown, Meralco is keeping its target to grow full-year profits by 10 percent to P50 billion as core earnings during the first nine months already expanded by 14 percent to P40 billion.
“Based on the growth of our power generation business and the steady performance of our core distribution business in the past nine months, we stay positive that we will achieve our full-year core profit guidance of P50 billion,” Pangilinan said in a statement on Monday.
Betty C. Siy-Yap, Meralco chief finance officer, said the company’s growing power generation sector and other subsidiaries will “cover any shortfall” on their 2025 earnings goal.
Power generation remains a bright spot
Meralco PowerGen Corp., led by CEO Emmanuel Rubio, booked a 63 percent increase in core net income contribution during the nine-month period.
It delivered 20,226 GWh of energy in the first nine months of 2025, a 75 percent jump from last year.
This is on the back of its 5,079 MW saleable capacity and higher earnings from LNG ventures like Chromite Gas and Singapore-based PacificLight, alongside stronger revenue from the reserve market.
Miguel R. Camus has been a reporter covering various domestic business topics since 2009.
