El Niño heats up Meralco's energy sales this year

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the country's biggest power utility, is poised to end the year with modest growth in energy sales amid hotter demand in the residential segment.

- By BRIX LELIS

Following brisk results in the first nine months, Meralco senior vice president and chief revenue officer Ferdinand Geluz is seeing a six-percent uptick in energy sales volume by year-end.

This is higher than the company's 4.7 percent forecast at the start of the year.

"So we'll end the year with over 53,350 gigawatt-hours. That's close to 3,000 GWh additional compared to 2023," Geluz said.

Last year, Meralco reported a total distribution utility sales volume of 51,044 GWh from 48,916 GWh in 2022 as households used cooling appliances more often due to the El Niño phenomenon.

This year, the company is still banking on the strong consumption from residential and commercial customers, coupled with the slight growth in the industrial segment.