Erramon Aboitiz, president and chief executive of Aboitiz Equity Ventures, poses for a photo in front of his office in Cebu City. Photo by AFP

MANILA, Philippines - Earnings of Aboitiz Power Corp., the power arm of Aboitiz Equity Ventures (AEV), grew 13% in 2012 from the year before on higher selling prices and net generation.

Aboitiz Power's net income in 2012 stood at P24.4 bllion versus P21.6 billion in 2011.

The company's President and CEO Erramon Aboitiz attributed the growth to the strong performance of the generation and distribution segments amid a vibrant economy.

Aboitiz Power's earnings included one-time gains foreign exchange gains and losses stemming from higher fuel cost, among others.

The company owns and operates several hydroelectric and geothermal assets, and also has non-renewable power plants located across the country.

Here's how the segments performed:

Power generation

• The generation business accounted for 89% of earnings, with a share of P22.8 billion, up 11% from 2011.
• Average selling price of power produced rose 3% due to tight supply and higher demand. The price of power sold to the spot market went up 40% year on year.
• Net generation increased 13% to 10,660 gigawatt-hours from 9,422 GWh as power sales through bilateral contracts grew 17%.
• Billed ancillary power dropped 19% due to lower acceptance rate of grid operator. Ancillary power is needed to keep the power grid secure and reliable. It is the power used to prevent the grid from crashing in case of emergencies.

Power distribution

• The power distribution segment registered a 16% earnings growth to P2.8 billion from P2.4 billion, thanks to higher electricity sales and better margins.
• Total attributable electricity sales rose 6% to 3,934 GWh from 3,727 GWh. Sales to ndustrial, residential and commercial clients all went up.
• Average gross margin for 2012 went up 11% to P1.60/kWh because of favorable rates effectivity of approved rates under the Performance Base Regulation (PBR). Under PBR, rates of distribution utilities are capped based on their proposed capital spending.

- Rappler.com