Meralco net income jumps 19.3% in Q1

Rose to US$94 million from US$81 million year-on-year.

Manila Electric Company reported a 17.7% rise in core net income in Q1 to US$97 million from US$82.8 million year-on-year. Meralco said the increase was due mainly to higher energy sales. It said other reasons for the improved profit were the sustained increase in new customers; providing power to new real estate developments and increased consumption driven by remittances of overseas Filipino workers and the business process outsourcing sector.

Revenue, however, slowed by 1.5% to US$1.55 billion from US$1.58 billion due to lower power supply costs from new suppliers. This was slightly offset by a moderate increase in energy sales volume. Meralco’s power supply costs are passed on to consumers. Chairman Manny Pangilinan said the first quarter results were slightly ahead of expectations.

Meralco is controlled by Hong Kong-based First Pacific Group. As for electricity sales volume, Meralco reported a 1.2% increase to 7,777 gigawatt hours from 7,687 gigawatt hours. Meralco’s average rates fell by P0.03 to P9.32 per kilowatt-hour. Customer numbers reached 5.2 million this March, having grown 3.3% year-on-year.