Philippine Asian News Today Vol 19 No 22 | Page 12

PNT Foreign Exchange $ 1.00 Cdn = P 39.30 Php
12 BUSINESS NEWS
PHILIPPINE ASIAN NEWS TODAY November 16 - 30 , 2017

New Asian partners for Meralco

Manila Electric Co . ( Meralco ) is in talks with Asian companies as potential partners for its planned coal-fired power plant in Atinoman , Quezon , the power distributor ’ s top official said .
The Asian firms may be potential investors in the 2x600 megawatt plant , Meralco chairman Manuel V . Pangilinan said on the sidelines of an event organised by the Management Association of the Philippines .
The company has already secured funding for the project and has reached preliminary agreements with eight banks for a P107.5-billion loan .
“ We ’ re waiting for PSA ( power supply agreement ) approval . We ’ ve already come to an agreement with the banks but we need the PSA before we finalize the agreement ,” said Meralco chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap .
In the same event , Meralco president Oscar Reyes said the power firm expects volume sales to rise 4.5 percent this year .
But this is expected to be tempered to 3.5 percent in 2018 as customers continue to implement cost-cutting measures .
For this year , the company is looking to slightly surpass its core profit , noting that the surge in sales will be
tempered by the growing retail competition and ongoing developments in its power generation business .
T h e c o m p a n y has set a guidance on 2017 consolidated core net income to be a slight i m p r o v e - ment over the amount reported in 2016 , with only two months left this year but officials declined to provide the exact number .
Officials have noted that some business verticals such as retail electricity have increasingly been very competitive .
Introduced in June 2013 , retail electricity is provided by retail electricity suppliers or RES which are entities authorized by the Energy Regulatory Commission ( ERC ) to sell , broker or market electricity to big power users or those with an average peak demand of one megawatt for 12 months .
Prior to June 2013 , all

Businesses upbeat on economy for Q4

Manila Electric Co . ( Meralco ) is in talks with Asian companies as potential partners for its planned coal-fired power plant in Atinoman , Quezon , the power distributor ’ s top official said .
The Asian firms may be potential investors in the 2x600 megawatt plant , Meralco chairman Manuel V . Pangilinan said on the sidelines of an event organised by the Management Association of the Philippines .
The company has already secured funding for the project and has reached preliminary agreements with eight banks for a P107.5-billion loan .
“ We ’ re waiting for PSA ( power supply agreement ) approval . We ’ ve already come to an agreement with the banks but we need the PSA before we finalize the agreement ,” said Meralco chief finance officer Betty Siy-Yap .
In the same event , Meralco president Oscar Reyes said the power firm expects volume sales to rise 4.5 percent this year .
But this is expected to be tempered to 3.5 percent in 2018 as customers continue to implement cost-cutting measures .
For this year , the company is looking to slightly surpass its core profit , noting that the surge in sales will be tempered by the growing retail competition and ongoing developments in its power generation business .
The company has set a guidance on 2017 consolidated core net income to be a slight improvement over the amount reported in 2016 , with only two months left this year but officials declined to provide the exact number .
Officials have noted that some business verticals such these big customers were captive customers of Meralco but the introduction of RES changed that .
Meralco booked a core net income of P19.58 billion and a reported net income of P19.18 billion in 2016 .
As of end-September , Meralco has registered a core net income of P15.4 billion , up three percent from last year ’ s P15 billion .
Reported net earnings amounted to P15.9 billion , two percent higher than last year ’ s P15.7 billion , data from the company showed . ( I . Gonzales , PS )
as retail electricity have increasingly been very competitive .
Introduced in June 2013 , retail electricity is provided by retail electricity suppliers or RES which are entities authorized by the Energy Regulatory Commission ( ERC ) to sell , broker or market electricity to big power users or those with an average peak demand of one megawatt for 12 months .
Prior to June 2013 , all these big c u s t o m e r s were captive customers of Meralco but the introduction of RES
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changed that .
Meralco booked a core net income of P19.58 billion and a reported net income of P19.18 billion in 2016 .
As of end-September , Meralco has registered a core net income of P15.4 billion , up three percent from last year ’ s P15 billion .
Reported net earnings amounted to P15.9 billion , two percent higher than last year ’ s P15.7 billion , data from the company showed . ( I . Gonzales , PS )