Manila Electric Co. (Meralco), the largest power distribution utility (DU) in the country, expects an increase in its energy sales by 2026, driven by more customer connections.

In an interview, Meralco Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer Ferdinand Geluz said the company’s “aggressive energization” efforts this year are expected to offset the impact of extreme weather conditions on sales in 2024 and 2025.

“While we energize a lot of customers, [that’s an] additional 194,000 in net count. We’re at 8.18 million now compared to last year... These newly energized customers have to be added around 750 gigawatt-hours (GWh),” he told reporters on the sidelines of Asia Clean Energy Summit (ACES) 2025 last week.

“Because of the extreme temperature last year... We lost around 950 [or] around 910 GWh. So net on net, we’re minus 160 GWh.”

As the country faced El Niño, or extreme heat and drought conditions last year, Meralco began expanding its services to new customers this year.

“We’re hoping that when things normalize... we recover some of those lost organic sales by near some sort of normalization of temperature,” Geluz said.

Besides weather, the Meralco executive also cited office and condominium vacancies following the exit of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in 2024, which contributed to lower energy sales. For instance, Island Cove, a former resort-turned-POGO complex, was acquired by construction firm EEI Corp. in October, signaling plans to repurpose the area.

“We’re already talking to them. I think one building, then later on they will sort of energize the whole thing. Of course, some of the occupancy left by POGOs—some of it will be occupied by office spaces. So that being said, we’re still confident that by next year, with the continuous energization that we’re having now [plus some sort of normalization], we’re still confident that next year, an increase of around 1,700 megawatt-hours (MWh) or more than three percent.”

In July, Meralco reported energy sales of 27,091 GWh in the first half of the year, reflecting a marginal 0.5-percent increase. The modest growth was attributed to cooler temperatures and economic headwinds, including the downgraded gross domestic product (GDP) growth target to 5.5 percent and the impact of United States (US) tariff policies on the Philippines.