Meralco Q1 net income up 5%

Meralco posted a 5-percent increase in its consolidated core net income to P3.4 billion in the first quarter from P3.3 billion last year.

The increase was fueled by a 10-percent rise in the volume of electricity sold in the first three months of the year, according to Meralco senior vice president and chief finance officer Betty C. Siy-Yap.

This was attributed to a “better than expected economic environment, continuing strong inflow of remittances from OFWs and revenue inflows of business process outsourcing entities, benign inflation and slightly warmer temperature.”

The increase in sales volume to 7,687 gigawatt-hours can also be attributed to the higher number of billed customers, which reached 5.07 million as of end March.

Consolidated revenue grew by 16 percent to P65.6 billion from year-ago level.

According to Meralco president and chief executive officer Manuel V. Pangilinan, the utility is maintaining its profit guidance of P15 billion for 2012 and energy sales volume increase of 3 percent this year.