MERALCO eyes PHP40B consolidated net income, affirms RE goals

MERALCO

MERALCO Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Manuel V. Pangilinan expects a strong year with a consolidated core net income (CCNI) of over PHP 40 billion,

The company looks to exceed its 2023’s all-time high of PHP 37.1 billion incited by the expansion of distribution utility and the firm’s power generation and retail electricity businesses.

“We will continue to make significant investments in upgrading our distribution infrastructure, expand our investment in the generation business, raise our renewable energy capacities, and enhance operational efficiencies by digitalizing our processes,“ he stated.

MERALCO Chief Operating Officer Ronnie Aperocho highlighted the firm’s operational achievements in its distribution utility business and emphasized its commitment to renewable energy goals as the largest electricity distributor in the country.

“We expanded our aspirations beyond our distribution business by making our most significant investments yet in renewable energy. In addition, we supported the government in exploring the possibilities of harnessing nuclear energy,” Aperocho shared.

In 2023, MERALCO achieved its best-ever reliability performance figures, setting record lows in both SAIFI (Outage Frequency) and SAIDI (Outage Duration). The company also reported a system loss performance significantly below the regulatory cap, resulting in customer savings of PHP 4.9 billion, or 10 centavos per kilowatt-hour.

In addition, consolidated capital expenditures of PHP 30 billion were allocated to its distribution networks, renewable energy projects, and telecommunications towers.

According to MERALCO Chief Revenue Officer Ferdinand Geluz, they achieved record-breaking consolidated energy sales of over 51,000 gigawatt-hours, marking a 4.4% increase from 2022, fueled by continuous growth in residential and commercial sectors.

Meanwhile, MERALCO PowerGen Corporation President and CEO Jaime Azurin emphasized that considering the uncertainty due to turbulence in global energy markets, and as part of their strategy, they are looking to diversify and expand their energy portfolio, with a focus on both solar and battery storage solutions.

“We are trying our best to sustainably meet the increasing energy needs of our customers while adhering to environmental commitments,” he added.

By 2030, MGEN aims to establish a renewable energy portfolio totaling 1,500 megawatts, with the target of becoming coal-free by 2050.

Currently serving over 7.82 million customers, MERALCO aims to expand its customer base to 8 million by 2024.