Revenues climbed 10 percent to P114.5 billion, driven by higher electricity demand across homes, businesses, and factories, as well as more expensive power transmission and generation costs.
Residential sales rose 3 percent on the back of newly connected households, helping push total distribution sales to 12,493 gigawatt-hour for the quarter.
Headline figures
• Average retail rate rose 3 percent to P11.06 per kilowatt-hour.
• Higher natural gas costs, peso depreciation, and deferred charge recoveries pushed rates up.
• Reported net income grew 8.9 percent to P10.4 billion.
• Core earnings per share climbed 11 percent to P9.912, showing stronger operations.
Management’s view
Meralco chair and CEO Manuel V. Pangilinan shared his thoughts on the company’s future under its renewed franchise.
“The recent 25-year renewal of Meralco’s franchise, signed by President Marcos, is a milestone for the company, for which we are grateful indeed. This reinforces our commitment to public service, to sustainable growth, to nation-building,” Pangilinan said.
“It is as well a reminder of our public accountability. As we move forward, we remain dedicated to enhancing our services, and ensuring that our stakeholders receive the best value from partnering with us for development,” he added.
Power generation shines
Meanwhile, its power generation arm, Meralco PowerGen (MGEN), made a strong push with a 31 percent contribution to overall earnings, helped by new solar plants, a growing reserve market business, and a 40.2 percent stake in the country’s first LNG facility.
Meralco’s giant solar project MTerra Solar also hit 35 percent completion, backed by a record P150-billion loan deal and a US$600-million equity investment from Actis.
Strong balance sheet
Even with heavy spending, involving P25.4 billion mostly for solar projects and upgrading its power network, Meralco kept its debt in good shape, with borrowings still low compared to its earnings.
Solid performance from its Singapore unit PacificLight, which grew core profits by 31 percent, also helped cushion local cost pressures.
