Lopez-led First Gen Corporation posted a 22.8% increase in first quarter profits to $118.8 million from $96.8 million in the same period last year.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Friday, First Gen also said that consolidated revenues from electricity sales went up by $1.4 million to $482.9 million from $481.5 million year-on-year.
The company attributed the increase in net income mainly to the higher contributions of subsidiaries running natural gas and renewable energy power plants.
First Gas Power Corporation (FGPC), which runs the 1,000-megawatt (MW) Santa Rita natural gas power plant in Batangas City, contributed the largest increase for the first three months of the year at $11 million. FGPC posted a profit of $32.8 million, 50.7% higher than the $21.8 million recorded in the same period last year.
Prime Meridian PowerGen Corporation, which operates the 97MW Avion plant, posted an $8.5 million net income to turn a $2.2 million loss in the first quarter of 2020 into a $6.3 million profit this first quarter.
Energy Development Corporation (EDC), which has 1,344MW in geothermal, solar, and wind power generating assets, reported a $4.6 billion increase in net income to $59.8 million from $55.2 million previously.
EDC was also able to save expenses and interest costs during the period due to the Energy Regulatory Commission’s feed-in tariff rate adjustments from 2016 to 2020 for the Burgos wind and solar projects in Ilocos Norte, which resulted in an increase in the company’s first quarter revenues.
Also among EDC’s most prominent assets are the 603.7MW Unified Leyte geothermal power plants and the 130MW Bacon-Manito geothermal plants in Albay.
FGP Corporation, which operates the 500MW San Lorenzo natural gas plant, reported a $2.9 million increase in net income to $13.8 million from $10.9 million previously.
“The year 2021 is looking to be a better year, although we recognize that the recent surge and newly imposed lockdowns has made recovery slower. Nonetheless, we want to move forward and work on projects that will support the economy and increase employment,” First Gen President and COO Francis Giles Puno said in a statement
“The construction of the country’s first [liquefied natural gas] terminal is underway and, at First Gen, we are studying our roster of growth projects so that they can be ready by the time our country has recovered,” he continued.
First Gen and EDC separately reported profit declines of around seven percent for 2020.
Photo courtesy of First Gen website.
