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Meralco (MER/MERB)
Meralco 7-month sales to households down 2%
Posted: 2:05 AM | Sept. 21, 2005 Inquirer News Service WITH the government promoting energy conservation and individuals trying to reduce use of electricity amid rising overall prices, power retailer Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) recorded a drop of two percent in sales to the residential sector in the January-July period as compared with the same months last year, a company official said Tuesday. Meralco sales to the commercial sector rose percent with the opening of new businesses, said Ivanna de la Peña, vice president and utility economics chief. "Despite this increase in sales, I think efforts to conserve energy may have had some effect on the level of growth achieved during the first seven months of the year," De la Peña told the Inquirer. "There could have been higher growth without the energy conservation measures." She said it was still difficult to predict whether electricity demand for the remainder of the year would follow the trend seen in the first seven months. "Aggressive energy conservation measures may temper the growth that can be achieved in terms of sales," she said. "But, of course, we're not attributing the growth slowdown entirely to energy conservation. There may be other factors that have to be considered." "In the coming months, we'll have to see how sales will go," she added. "With the colder weather, we expect a dip in demand. As to how much of a dip, we are not sure yet."
obelix, thats what i thought so too, you think it is better to buy merb rather than pxb.
manila standard
Meralco increases rates by 42.78c/kwh
By Alena Mae S. Flores RESIDENTIAL consumers will pay 42.78 centavos more per kilowatthour for electricity next month as the Manila Electric Co. phases out subsidies from commercial and industrial users. At the same time, commercial and industrial power consumers will experience a reduction in electricity rates of as much as 46.93 centavos per kwh, depending on their level of consumption. Rates of very large nonindustrial users will go down by 46.93 centavos per kwh, large users by 41.75 centavos per kwh, medium users by 34.68 centavos per kwh and small nonindustrial users by 18.99 centavos per kwh. Industrial customers will experience a reduction of 37.84 centavos per kwh for extra large users, 30.83 centavos per kwh for very large users, 16.43 per kwh for large users and 5 centavos per kwh for medium industrial users. Ivanna de la Peña, Meralco head of utility economics, said the removal of inter-class subsidies that made commercial and industrial users pay more to reduce rates for residential customers, hospitals and street lighting, is mandated under the Electric Power Industry Reform Act (Epira) of 2001. The Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) directed Meralco to implement a two-year phase out of the inter-class subsidy starting November 2004. Of the 71.30 centavos per kwh subsidy to residential and general services consumers, only 40 percent was removed last year equivalent to a reduction in rates to industrial and commercial users of as much as 31.29 centavos per kwh. The remaining 60 percent will be removed next month. Residential and general service consumers felt an increase of 28.52 centavos per kwh as a result of the removal of the first phase of the subsidy last year. Under Epira, cross subsidies must be phased out in three years from the establishment by the ERC of a universal charge. This includes cross subsidies where customers located in viable regional grid pay more to reduce rates in less viable regional grids.
I don't know what to make up of all these news from Mercalco. I recall having seen a forecast where PER will be around 6x - 7x by next year. For a utility company, this may not be a bad deal.
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