Meralco earns recognitions for its commitment to creating lasting and impactful value for its stakeholders

The Manila Electric Company (Meralco) continued to radiate brilliance on the international stage — garnering multiple accolades from several award-giving bodies in recognition of the company’s sustained excellence in business performance, leadership, sustainability, innovation and corporate social responsibility.

As in previous years, the Manuel V. Pangilinan-led distribution utility relentlessly upholds its commitment to creating lasting impact for its various stakeholders through initiatives centered on customer centricity, digital transformation, service excellence, sustainability and social development. Meralco, this year, has so far earned recognition from, among others, the International Business Awards, the HR Excellence Awards, the Cloudera Data Impact Awards and the Asia IoT Business Platform.

The power utility recently earned eight Stevies — one (1) Gold, three (3) Silvers and four (4) Bronze at the 2024 International Business Awards (IBAs), also known as the “Olympics for the workplace.”

For the second year in a row, Meralco First Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer Raymond B. Ravelo, took home the Gold Stevie as Sustainability Hero of the Year in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

Ravelo was recognized for his strategic leadership in embedding sustainability in the utility’s operations through Meralco’s overarching sustainability agenda “Powering the Good Life.” The said campaign — which is deeply rooted in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs) and is marked by a distinctive focus on four pillars: Power, Planet, People and Prosperity — clinched Silver in the Sustainability Leadership Award in Asia, Australia, and New Zealand category.

“This recognition brings great pride to us in Meralco as it reflects our earnest commitment to sustainability. As we continue building a sustainable energy future, we will remain focused on elevating and evolving Meralco’s sustainability agenda to bring forth a brighter future for all,” Ravelo said.

One Meralco Foundation (OMF) President Jeffrey O. Tarayao meanwhile took home the Silver Stevie for Thought Leader of the Year in recognition of his visionary leadership of the distribution utility’s social development arm.

“These recognitions for Meralco’s CSR programs further strengthen our resolve to implement more initiatives that will enable marginalized communities to become more self-reliant,” Tarayao, who also serves as Meralco Chief Corporate Social Responsibility Officer, said.

OMF also won Silver for the Organization of the Year Award in recognition of its electrification programs that promote inclusive development especially in geographically isolated and disadvantaged communities in the Philippines.

In 2023, OMF marked various milestones in its programs as it energized its 75,000th low-income household, 300th off-grid rural public school, and crossed the 2 million mark for trees planted under its One for Trees environmental program.

Meralco meanwhile took home a Bronze Stevie for its “Nurturing a Vibrant Workforce: Meralco’s Approach to Engagement and Retention” entry which highlighted the company's ongoing commitment to building a strong culture and employee engagement, which continues to support long-term retention.

The company likewise won the Achievement in Diversity and Inclusion Award for its “#Mbrace” program which aims to increase female representation in the Meralco workforce. Another Bronze-winning entry is “The 9th Meralco Luminaries: Brighter New World” which honors the company’s external stakeholders who embody the distribution utility’s shared ambition of a progressive Philippines.

Completing the company’s haul at this year’s Stevies is the Bronze-winning entry “Lighting the Way: How Meralco's Customer Experience Dashboard (CXD) for Sales Analysis Helps Transform Insights into Action,” which showcases the transformative use of business intelligence solution to address the need of its customers.

The International Business Awards is one of the most coveted global recognitions for companies and professionals, which honor their achievements and positive contributions to the world. This year’s installment attracted over 3,600 nominations from 62 countries, with winners selected by more than 300 executives worldwide.

Championing customer centricity and digital transformation In recognition of its commitment to digital transformation, Meralco was recognized in the recent Asia IoT Business Platform (AIBP) ASEAN Enterprise Innovation Award for its entry “Certified by Meralco (CBM) Platform.” This customer-centric digital innovation provides end-to-end solutions to the distribution utility's 7.9 million customers.

The company bested five other nominees under the general category with Meralco's winning entry, "Certified by Meralco (CBM) Platform: Uberization of the Meralco Service Application Experience” which is touted as the first of its kind in the Philippines electric utility industry for showcasing the power distributor's workflow and standard-based solution.

“With Meralco's drive for customer centricity and digital transformation, we continue to innovate by providing solutions such as the CBM platform. Our customers appreciate the convenience of a faster and more streamlined digital application process, cost transparency, and the assurance of reliable, high-quality service from certified service providers,” Meralco Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Ferdinand O. Geluz said. “Moreover, we achieved groundbreaking results not just for our customers, but for our contractors and frontliners as well.”

It was also among the 57 shortlisted finalists in the Data and AI category for its customer-centric and data-driven digital transformation through the Meralco Data Platform (MDP).

The MDP centralizes data across operations, including billing systems and online channels, enabling more accurate analytics, streamlined data-driven processes, and integrated business operations.

The AIBP ASEAN Enterprise Innovation Award recognizes organizations that have embarked on projects to transform their business through digital adoption.

Meralco also reigned supreme at the Cloudera 2024 Data Impact Awards in the Leadership and Transformation category for its customer-centric and data-driven digital transformation through the Meralco Data Platform (MDP).

The company was recognized for its digital transformation journey and leadership in extracting value from data.

“From optimizing grid management to enhancing customer service, our data-driven initiatives are creating meaningful changes that benefit millions of customers,” Meralco First Vice President and Head, of Information, Communications, Technology and Transformation Rocky D. Bacani said.

Founded in 2008, Cloudera provides a platform for managing, analyzing, and securing large-scale data across various environments, including on-premises, cloud, and hybrid infrastructures.

Excellence in human resource management

In recognition of its excellence in human resource management, Meralco took home two gold and two silver medals at the HR Excellence Awards 2024 as the company continues to develop its pool of diverse talents to carry its mission of keeping the lights on and powering the good life for all.

The recognition reflected the company’s sustained excellence in recruitment and development of young professionals, leadership development, talent acquisition and women empowerment strategy.

The utility took home the Gold Award for Excellence in Graduate Recruitment and Development for its entry “Igniting the Spark of Young Professionals through the 2023 Meralco Cadetship and Internship Programs” as well as the “LUMENS Coaching Program for Leaders” under the Excellence in Leadership Development category.

The Meralco Cadetship and Internship program is the company’s training series for young professionals, while LUMENS equips high-performing employees with leadership competencies to take on headship and management roles.

Meralco was also recognized with the Silver Award for its entries “#BuildingABrilliantFuture with Meralco: Social Media Recruitment Marketing Tool,” and “Empowering Women: Meralco’s 2023 Mbrace Program on Diversity and Inclusion in Workplace” under the Excellence in Talent Acquisition, and Excellence in Women Empowerment Strategy categories respectively.

#BuildingABrilliantFuture is the social media banner slogan of Meralco’s Talent Resourcing and Recruitment Office while #Mbrace is the diversity and inclusion program of the company.

Now on its third edition, the HR Excellence Awards 2024 Philippines recognizes organizations in the country that have demonstrated innovative approaches to employee management as well as human capital strategies.

The awards, which features 40 categories, were judged by a panel of top HR leaders from various international companies.

Exceptional corporate governance

Recognizing its remarkable corporate governance practices, Meralco has received a four-arrow recognition from the Institute of the Corporate Directors (ICD) at the prestigious Golden Arrow Awards held on 19 September 2024, in Pasay City.

The prestigious accolade is the highest level of recognition bestowed by ICD to companies that achieved a score of at least 110 points in the ASEAN Corporate Governance Scorecard (ACGS) assessment in 2023.

Meralco’s recognition reflects the power distributor’s strict adherence to the corporate governance code, rules and regulations promulgated and enforced by the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Philippine Stock Exchange, the Philippine Dealing and Exchange Corporation, as well as globally recommended corporate governance practices endorsed by the ACGS.

Developed by the ASEAN Capital Markets, ACGS is an evaluation tool that measures the performance of publicly listed companies in the region. This assessment measures how well companies handle stakeholder management, disclosure and transparency, board strategies and shareholder rights.

This recognition serves as a testament to the company’s steadfast commitment to upholding the highest standards of corporate governance and strong adherence to operating with integrity, fairness and honesty to safeguard the interests of its shareholders and stakeholders.

Outstanding professional

At the helm of Meralco’s day-to-day operations is Meralco Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Ronnie L. Aperocho, who was recently named by the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) as Outstanding Electrical Engineer of the Year.

Aperocho was hailed as one of the country's Outstanding Professionals of the Year in recognition of his distinguished contribution to the field of Electrical Engineering as a top executive of Meralco and as Chairman of the Technical Committee of the Association of Electricity Supply Industry of East Asia and Western Pacific from 2022 to 2023.

The Outstanding Professional of the Year Award is the highest recognition the PRC bestows to professionals who demonstrate competence, integrity, and excellence in their respective professions.

As the largest distribution utility in the country, Meralco continues to be at the forefront of technological innovation —setting the bar for professional excellence and customer service backed by decades of experience and expertise in the energy industry.