Meralco likely to hit target profit for 2016

MANILA, Philippines – The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) expects to hit its core net income guidance of P19 billion in 2016, with its chairman saying that the power distributor sees high electricity consumption.

“Most likely, yes [we will hit the guidance]. Overall demand for bill volume is about slightly above 8% for the entire year,” Meralco chairman Manuel V. Pangilinan said on the sidelines of the US-Philippines Society event on Tuesday, February 21.

For the first 9 months of 2016, Meralco saw its net income slightly decrease by 5% to P14.96 billion, from P15.8 billion in the same period in 2015.

But in the 3rd quarter of 2016, its core net income went up by 10% to P4.6 billion, from P4.154 billion in the same period in 2015.

A report from BusinessMirror quoted Meralco senior vice president Alfredo Panlilio as saying that the power distributor’s sales stood at 39,583 gigawatt-hours (GWh).

Meralco’s profit guidance for last year is slightly ahead of the core net income of P18.8 billion in 2015.

Staggered hike

For February this year, Meralco’s rate increased by P0.92 per kilowatt-hour (kWh), bringing the overall rate for a typical household to P9/kWh.

This is compared to the January bill’s 7-year low of P8.09/kWh.

Meralco is now seeking the Energy Regulatory Commission’s approval for a rate hike of P0.92/kWh, for 3 months beginning in March.

“We were simply just trying to alleviate the pain on the wallet of consumers. [The] suggestion of Meralco is to defer or put it on an installment basis,” Pangilinan said.

Meralco is planning staggered implementation, starting with P0.30/kWh in March, followed by another P0.30/kWh in April, and the remaining P0.32/kWh in May. – Rappler.com