Meralco sees sales rise from builders, tech

Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) is banking on the booming data center industry and a rebound in construction activities to lift energy sales in the second half, after flat growth in the first six months due to cooler weather and weaker demand.

“We are seeing some uptick in the construction industry: cement as well as glass. I think some of the data centers that we've energized last year, finally, by the third quarter, I think some of them will have locators,” Meralco Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Ferdinand O. Geluz told reporters on Thursday. 

As of the end of June, Meralco’s energy sales were “technically flattish,” with first-half growth estimated at just 0.5 percent year on year or around 200 gigawatt-hours (GWh) sold.  

Geluz partly attributed the soft performance to the exit of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), which began weighing on demand in the commercial and real estate sectors as early as August last year.

“We already experienced a slowdown. One is due to real estate and retail trade,” he said, citing lingering effects on occupancy in condominiums, restaurants, and retail spaces built around POGO zones.

Notably, Geluz said Meralco saw residential consumption overtake commercial sales during the summer, but overall household demand remained sluggish despite gaining an additional 200,000 customers. 

According to Meralco, the company’s energy sales remain closely linked to the country’s economic performance, with Geluz noting a strong historical correlation between electricity demand and economic growth within its franchise area. 

However, even as the economy continues to expand, the utility is seeing a growing dent in grid-supplied power consumption due to the accelerating adoption of solar rooftops—particularly among commercial and industrial users.

Meralco now has over 300 megawatts of installed rooftop solar capacity within its franchise, with about 123 to 125 megawatts under the net metering scheme and nearly 200 megawatts from larger installations. 

Each megawatt of rooftop solar typically offsets about 1.3 GWh of consumption annually, or roughly 400 GWh in total. Net metering installations, meanwhile, have been growing by 30 to 40 percent annually.

Despite these headwinds, Geluz said energy sales remain slightly above last year’s levels, although falling short of Meralco’s earlier target of 4.5 percent growth.