November 3, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — Power giant Manila Electric Co. (Meralco) expects its energy sales to finish the year largely flat, as the government’s crackdown on Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) has tempered demand.
“So technically, it’s still flattish,” Meralco chief revenue officer Ferdinand Geluz said in an interview, pointing to milder heat and POGO vacancies that have partially offset gains from new customer connections.
He noted, however, that the effect of the POGO exit, including in condo units, should gradually ease as these spaces are repurposed for other uses.
“Its occupancy is like a repurposing. I think, if you heard, Island Cove was bought by EEI (Corp.), and the plan is to repurpose it into some sort of township (development),” Geluz said.
Island Cove, dubbed the country’s largest POGO facility, ceased operations in November 2024, months after President Marcos announced an immediate ban on POGOs.
Marcos recently signed Republic Act 12312, which institutionalizes the ban on POGOs due to their involvement in money laundering, human trafficking and other illegal activities.
The office market recorded 647,000 square meters of vacated space as of September, with POGOs alone accounting for over 150 square meters, according to a report by consultancy firm Leechiu Property Consultants Inc.
Amid these headwinds, Geluz is counting on Meralco’s ongoing “aggressive” energization to heat up power sales next year.
“Some of the occupancy left by POGOs will be occupied by office spaces. With the energization that we’re having now plus some sort of normalization, we’re still confident that next year we will see an increase of around 1,700 megawatt-hours, or more than three percent,” he said.
Year-to-date, the country’s largest power utility has energized an additional 194,000 connections, bringing its total customer count to around 8.18 million.
From January to September, Meralco’s distribution business posted total energy sales of 40,719 gigawatt-hours, slightly down compared to the 40,872 GWh logged a year ago.
The marginal decrease was attributed to an extended period of inclement weather that softened demand in the residential and commercial segments.