By Myrna M. Velasco Mainly on account of higher coal production, the consolidated net income after tax (NIAT) of Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) had jumped 3.0 percent to P4.57 billion in the first quarter versus last year’s P4.42 billion in the same period. Net of eliminations that were booked in this financial performance review, the contribution of the company’s coal mining was logged at P3.58 billion; while its power generation segment posted P589 million for Sem-Calaca Power Corporation (SCPC); and P407 million for Southwest Luzon Power Generation Corporation (SLPGC). The company expounded “with higher excavating capacity, coal production reached 4.1 million tons,” which was three percent higher from last year. Domestic demand for coal, it stressed, had soared by 27-percent “on the back of higher requirements from domestic customers.” Nevertheless, it noted that with decline in exports, aggregate sales from January to March this year had been pared 5.0-percent to 3.4 million tons from the year-ago level of 3.6 million tons. SMPC expounded “the 5.0-percent drop in coal sales volume was offset by the 24-percent increase in average selling price,” as referenced on the New Castle coal price index of Australia. On energy sales, the company registered 30-percent drop in the first three months due to combined planned maintenance as well as forced outages experienced by its electric generating facilities. By far, the Consunji-led firm’s total energy sales in the quarter hovered at 575 gigawatt hours, manifestly a downtrend from last year’s 825 GWh in the same period. SMPC said “higher energy average selling price cushioned the impact of the decline in sales volume, with revenues from the power generation segment declining only by 14-percent year on year.”