Napocor profit sinks 67% in 2016

MANILA, Philippines - Earnings of state-owned National Power Corp. (Napocor) plunged 67 percent to P1.6 billion last year from P4.9-billion in 2015.

Despite the decline, Napocor president Ma. Gladys Cruz-Sta. Rita said the firm has booked a net income for the past four years.

She added the company made extra-ordinary gains in 2015 from the drop in fuel prices and “because we granted pending prior years’ reimbursements.”

“The good financial position of the corporation for 2016 is attributed to the corporation’s fiscal prudence and good governance practices. The restructured tariff recovery approach, more proactive recovery of the Universal Charge for Missionary Electrification (UCME) and sustained high collection efficiency also helped in maintaining our good financial standing,” Sta. Rita said.

In late 2014, Napocor appealed before the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC) for a restructured tariff recovery approach to bring the gap between cost and revenue closer.

The ERC has then provisionally approved the P0.1163 per kilowatt-hour (kwh) basic UCME from P0.0454, though the total UCME remains at the same level of P0.1561 per kwh.

This gave Napocor a greater fiscal muscle. It allowed them to fund most of the expenses using current revenues.

Napocor’s sustained collection efficiency also contributed the corporation’s finances which improved to 98.38 percent last year from 85 percent in 2012.

“We owe our sound collection efficiency to the dialogues we have been organizing with our customers since the past three years. These dialogues paved the way for a better and faster communication line and better services we give to our customers,” Sta. Rita said.

For its prime mandate of missionary electrification, Napocor was able to procure 56 new generating sets with an aggregate capacity of 13.55 MW. These gensets were distributed to 47 Small Power Utilities Group (SPUG) power plants which allowed an enhanced power supply in the islands.

Napocor likewise extended the service hours of 26 SPUG plants, seven of which were given full 24 hours of operation. These are Itbayat and Sabtang in Batanes, Polilio in Quezon, Araceli and Rizal in Palawan, Pilar Island in Cebu and San Antonio in Northern Samar.

It also completed transmission line projects namely the rehabilitation of the 87km 69 kV Mamburao-Sablayan-Ligaya; 61.23 Km 69 kV Bansud-Mansalay, the extension of the 69 kV Mobo-Aroroy transmission lines, the 10 MVA Virac (Marinawa substation) in Catanduanes and the 111-km 69 kV Puerto Princesa to Roxas transmission line in Palawan.

Napocor has also rehabilitated 1,881 hectares of open lands within its 11 watershed areas and conducted mandatory safety inspections to its dams to ensure safety of communities downstream, supporting its power generation.