Manila Electric Company (MER) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

[Audio Gap] into today's briefing. I'm Claire Feliciano from Meralco, and I will be moderating today's briefing here at the Pasig Room of the Lopez Building inside the Meralco Operating Center. We have guests, analysts and investors present here on site today, and we have also set up a conference call facility by MS Teams for our online participants. Before we proceed, please be advised that this conference call is recorded. Kindly follow the ground rules which were sent to you beforehand. We will be presenting the financial and operating results of Meralco for the full year ended December 31, 2023. A copy of the presentation may be downloaded from our website at www.meralco.com.ph under the Investor Relations section. We have members of Meralco's management team in this briefing: Mr. Ronnie L. Aperocho, Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer; Mr. Ferdinand O. Geluz, Senior Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer; Ms. Betty Siy-Yap, Senior Vice President and Chief Finance Officer; Mr. Froilan Savet, First Vice President and Head of Networks; Mr. Raymond B. Ravelo, First Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer; and Mr. Jaime Azurin, President and CEO of Meralco PowerGen Corporation. We will begin the presentation with the financial highlights, followed with the operating results of Meralco's DU business and then highlights from Meralco PowerGen Corporation and our sustainability report. Finally, we will conclude the presentation with a few words from our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. After all the presentations are done, we will allot time for the question and answer. At this point, I would like now to introduce our Chief Finance Officer, Ms. Betty Siy-Yap, who will present the financial results.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'll be presenting the full year results for the year ended December 31, 2023. So a summary, our total energy volume handled by One Meralco is 64,264 gigawatt hours, 6% higher than 2022. Our CCNI grew 37% to PHP 37.1 billion, coming from higher contribution of the distribution utility with the increase in energy sales from residential and commercial sector and the completion of refund in 2022. Added to that would be the strong power generation contribution driven by PacificLight Power and San Buenaventura as well as the recovery of Global Business Power. MGen's 3 power plants, solar plants, also contributed to the bottom line. On December 27, MGreen, which is a subsidiary of MGen, acquired primary common and redeemable preferred shares of SP New Energy Corporation for PHP 15.9 billion or an equivalent 50.5% controlling interest. The Directors -- the Board of Directors also approved a final dividend PHP 11.235 a share. So the first slide shows our financial summary. Our consolidated core net income, as mentioned, is PHP 37.1 billion, up from last year's PHP 27.1 billion. And this is coming from higher energy sales volume and contribution of power generation. Our consolidated reported net income improved by 34% to PHP 38 billion from PHP 28.4 billion, while our core EBITDA was 25% higher at PHP 51.3 billion -- at PHP 64.4 billion versus PHP 51.3 billion in the previous year. Cost and expenses were at the same level as that in 2022, and our capital expenditures totaled PHP 30 billion for the distribution network and some renewable energy projects. Cash and cash equivalent amounted to PHP 82.8 billion while our total debt stood at PHP 99 billion. While our consolidated core net income -- while the consolidated core net income contribution of the distribution utility increased in terms of absolute amount, percentage-wise, this was lower as a result of the higher contribution of power generation and RES during the year. Contribution to the total CCNI of our unregulated business consists of power generation, retail electricity and our nonpower subsidiaries. This grew by -- grew to 36% from 24% a year ago. On power gen, the contribution was driven by PacificLight, the recovery of Global Business Power and MGreen. As of the end of 2023, MGen has combined power generation capacity of 2,240 megawatt in the Philippines and in Singapore, and this delivered a total of 14,293 gigawatt hours of energy. MPower, our local RES unit, Clark Electric's Cogent, MGen's Global Energy Supply Corporation and two other affiliate RES', namely Vantage and Meridian, sold a total of 7,075 gigawatt hours of energy to the contestable customers as of the end of December 2023, lower by 16% compared to 2022. The higher CCNI of RES was a result of continued recovery of the negative effect -- recovery from the negative effect of the FCRA as well as modified product offerings. Our regulated business or distribution utilities share in CCNI declined to 64% from 76%. And this was due to the combined effect of growth in volume, completion of distribution rate true-up, refined and prudent OpEx spending. Our consolidated revenues were at PHP 443.6 billion from PHP 426.5 billion in the previous year. Electric revenues totaled PHP 430.2 billion or 97% of total revenues. Generation, transmission and other charges grew 3% due to higher cost of replacement power from the capacity previously provided by the terminated PSAs of SPPC Ilijan and Sual. This effectively increased the fuel component. Distribution revenues amounted to PHP 69.1 billion, 17% higher due to the combined effect of the 4% increase in DU volume and downward effect of the distribution rate true-up refund. Energy fees totaled PHP 25.9 billion, 11% lower with the lower fuel and coal components. Nonelectric revenues grew 7% to PHP 13.4 billion, driven by the recognition of the tower lease contracts of MIDC, increase in the number of circuits and accounts of Radius and higher transaction volume and average service fees of Bayad. Total cost and expenses in 2023 was at PHP 407.3 billion. Purchased power accounted for 81% of our total cost and expenses. OpEx accounted for 9%. Depreciation and combined coal and fuel expenses for the power plant was at 4%. Purchased power increased by 2% to PHP 328.2 billion from PHP 322.6 billion, reflecting the higher cost of replacement power from the terminated contracts discussed earlier; increase in fuel component and energy fee of nonrenewable power generation plants; and the peso depreciation. Partially mitigating the increase in purchased power costs were the lower Malampaya gas prices, which averaged $9.60 per gigajoule in 2023 from $10.18 per gigajoule a year ago and lower average price at the spot market. Also note that during the year, there were lesser instances wherein the secondary price had to be triggered. Operating expenses were flat at PHP 37.5 billion with a lower provision for bad debt, which offset the higher cost of contracted services for repairs and maintenance and IT-related expenses as well as customer-related expenses for disconnection, reconnection and collection. Coal and fuel and power plant maintenance expense totaled PHP 18 billion, 26% lower compared with last year as the prices of coal and fuel came down. Depreciation and amortization increased by 4% due to the completed CapEx of the distribution utility, acquired towers under a sale and leaseback arrangement as well as completed build-to-suit towers of MIDC and the fiber optic cable added to the Radius network. Consolidated CapEx amounted to PHP 30 billion. The DU CapEx accounted for 78% of the total, largely related to network CapEx that covered new connections, asset renewal, load growth projects. Power generation CapEx accounted for 2% with the completion of Phase 1 and ongoing construction of Phase 2 of the Baras solar plant. Subsidiaries' CapEx represent 20%, most of which pertain to MIDC's additional 334 SLB towers and 36 BTS towers. So this slide shows our power generation portfolio. So wholly owned power generation subsidiary, MGen, contributed a total of PHP 9.7 billion to Meralco CCNI in 2023, 80% higher than the PHP 5.4 billion posted in the same period last year, mainly from the positive performance of PacificLight, recovery of Global Business Power and contribution of MGreen's power -- solar power plants. As at 202,3, end 2023, MGen had combined power generation capacity of 2,240 megawatt. The combined energy volume generated and sold by the plants, the Philippines and Singapore, was a total of 14,293 gigawatt hours. The Singapore-based PacificLight recorded CCNI of SGD 400 million, an equivalent PHP 16.2 billion from SGD 305.4 billion or an equivalent PHP 12.1 billion. SBPL, which is 51% owned by MGen, booked core net income of PHP 2.5 billion, down from PHP 3.5 billion last year and delivered a total of 2,360 gigawatt hours of energy with plant availability at 89%. SBPL's lower core net income was coming from O&M costs incurred during the latter part of the year for the first major overhaul since it started commercial operations. Also, in addition, there was higher interest expense of SBPL due to the repricing. GBP, on the other hand, posted CCNI of PHP 505 million, a turnaround from loss in 2022 of PHP 2.7 billion, mainly from the improved plant availability and contracting. GBP delivered a total of 5,867 gigawatt hours of energy from its portfolio of coal and oil plants with a net capacity of 824 megawatt, of which 635 are contracted under PSAs with captive and contestable customers. MGreen or MGen's renewable energy arm reported a total of PHP 67 million of CCNI, and this came from three plants, namely -- which is a total of 347 gigawatt hours delivered from the 55-megawatt AC solar plant of PowerSource First Bulacan, or BulacanSol; 68-megawatt AC solar plant of Nuevo Solar; and 67.5 megawatt from the Baras Phase 1. In terms of our financial position, significant assets recognized as a result of the SPNEC acquisition in December are as follows: intangible assets pertaining to customer contracts equivalent to PHP 29.3 billion; 452 hectares of land at PHP 9.8 billion; deposit for land acquisition covering 2,540 hectares at PHP 3.7 billion; power plant of SP Calatagan and SP Tarlac at PHP 10.2 billion; and cash of PHP 10 billion. Investments increased with the PHP 11.5 billion combined share in earnings of associates and JVs, mainly from PacificLight, that's PHP 9.3 billion; San Buenaventura at PHP 1.3 billion, net of dividends declared by PacificLight of PHP 8.2 billion. SBPL also declared dividends of about PHP 912 million, [indiscernible] or -- at PHP 800 million. Rockwell Business Center contributed almost PHP 200 million. Intangibles composed of customer contracts of SPNEC of PHP 29 billion; GBP at PHP 10 billion; and network locations of MIDC for the build-to-suit towers at the SLB towers at PHP 11 billion. The balance of the purchase price for SPNEC's secondary shares of PHP 11.2 billion was recognized as trade and other liabilities. Our consolidated interest-bearing debt stood at PHP 99.4 billion, including debt of subsidiaries of PHP 53.9 billion. Maturities within 1 year amounted to PHP 33.6 billion. The decline in debt balance from 2022 was mainly the exercise of put option of holders of the Meralco's 12-year note, totaling PHP 4.1 billion out of a total of PHP 7 billion. The 12-year note will mature in December of 2025. Meralco's debt is comfortably spread through 2037. Almost all our debt is denominated in Philippine peso, except with respect to about $600,000 of debt of our subsidiary. Cash and cash equivalents amounted to PHP 82.8 billion and short-term investments was at PHP 7.5 billion. Net debt is at PHP 9.1 billion with net debt to EBITDA at 0.1x. Our long-term cash investments totaled PHP 14.2 billion. Our core earnings per share is at PHP 32.925 a share, 37% higher. Today, the Board of Directors approved declaration of final dividend amounting to PHP 11.235 a share to all shareholders of record as of March 27, payable on April 24. This brings total dividends declared out of the 2023 CCNI to PHP 19.755 a share, equivalent to 60% of core EPS. Using the December 31, 2023 closing price, the dividend yield stood at 5%. Total cash dividend paid and to be paid out of the 2023 CCNI totaled PHP 22.3 billion. That ends my report.

Thank you, Ma'am Betty. We will now move on to the operating results presentation to be led by our EVP and COO, Mr. Ronnie Aperocho, followed by the heads of the different business segments.

Thank you, Claire. Good afternoon to everyone. On behalf of the management team, I'm happy to report to you the full year highlights of our operations. This is for our core distribution utility business. Starting with energy sales. Our energy sales grew by 4.4% at 51,044 gigawatt hours. Customer count also grew by 2.6%. So our customer connection is now at 7.828 million. So we expect to hit the 8 million mark by November of this year. Net system input also grew by 4% at 53,340 gigawatt hours. Meralco's peak demand also grew by 4.1% at 8,440 megawatts or 8.44 gigawatts. This was registered last May 9 of 2023. For the service performance, our 12-month moving average system loss was at 5.88%, higher by 0.11 percentage point. This is due to the effect of the lower share of low loss to serve industrial customers in the total sales mix, as will be explained later on by Mr. Ferdie Geluz. But at this level, this is still way below the prevailing system loss cap of ERC, which is at 6.5%. For our reliability -- service reliability indicators, like this is the total SAIFI, or system average interruption frequency index, we improved by 8.2% at 1.194x compared to 1.3x in 2022. Total SAIDI or system average interruption duration index, also improved by 3.7% at 123.7 minutes compared to 128.4 minutes in 2022. Time to connect at 1.39 days is a 16.3% improvement versus our performance in 2022. And finally, the average retail rate was at PHP 10.55 per kilowatt hours, higher by 10.8%, basically driven by higher generation charges for the whole year of 2023. Let me now refer you to Ferdie Geluz for the sales and customer-related report. Thank you.

Thank you, Ronnie. So good afternoon, everyone. So we're happy to report that our consolidated sales for 2023 is actually an all-time high at 51,044 gigawatt hours, up 4.4% versus last year, with sustained growth in Commercial and Residential segments. So Meralco's volume was actually 4.3% higher, while Clark Electric Distribution Corporation grew by 6%. In terms of sales mix, we continue to shift back towards the pre-pandemic levels, but they were not quite there yet. Commercial segment now accounts for 37% of total sales compared to 36% last year. Residential sales remained at 35%, while Industrial segment's contribution decreased from 30% to 28%. And this is what Ronnie is mentioning that those metered at the high voltage with low loss is actually declining in terms of share. And this impacts our system loss. So on to the details. Residential volume grew by close to 4% at 17,772 gigawatt hours from 17,100 last year, driven mainly by El Niño this year compared to the tail end of the La Niña in quarter 1 last year. After a slow start in Q1, sales recovered in the next quarters as El Niño prompted households to use cooling applies. So quarter-on-quarter, were actually down minus 3% on quarter 1, but there's strong recovery due to the transition to El Niño at 5% in quarter 2, 7% in quarter 3 and 5% in quarter 4 for Residential. So additionally, increased consumption was noted in the verticals, condominiums and dormitories due to the resumption of full face-to-face class and on-site work. Commercial sales volume likewise increased, actually this was a driver, it increased 9.1% at 18,612 gigawatt hours from 17,052 last year and already surpassed pre-pandemic levels. So remember in 2022, it was actually Commercial that's the only -- as the only segment lagging in terms of pre-pandemic numbers. So now it has already surpassed, that pre-pandemic numbers, and this was driven by strong business globally and upbeat public confidence that led more to more in-person activities. So restaurant, hotels, real estate and education posted double-digit growth, benefiting from higher dine-in and mall traffic, increased hotel and real estate occupancy, of course, the rise of tourism and face-to-face classes. So retail likewise contributed at 8% increase. So Industrial segment, however, declined by close to 1% to 13,831 gigawatt hours this year as impact of high inflation and interest rates continues to impact their operations. So semicon, which is actually accounts for 1/4 of the total Industrial sales, declined 2%. Well, actually, from a year low of 7% dip in each one, semicon somehow started gradual recovery in August to end up at minus 2% for the whole year as key accounts diversified to producing EV chips. So I think for this year, we will see semicon recover somehow because of specifically some semicon companies like Samsung, Murata and STMicro exhibiting increase and carrying the semicon industry towards growth. Construction industry in 2023 is likewise challenged because I think public spending in terms of construction has slowed down, so segment was down minus 5% and steel minus 6%. And -- well, for this year, we're hoping that the pronouncement of NEDA that they will start releasing funds for the projects of government will somehow give some sort of a seed to this segment. On the other hand, food and beverage actually increased 2%, supporting the Commercial growth and [ generator really ] from embedded generators increased 16% due to demand from embedded generator really with the connection of new renewable plants within the franchise. Next slide, please. So we continue to grow our customer base as a result of healthy energization rate, both for project-covered application and ordinary service applications. So project-covered application is at its all-time high, close to 9,300 projects were energized at a faster rate. So this is actually 2% better than 2022, which used to be the all-time high number. So I think this is mainly driven by both the SME projects that is coming -- recovering during 2023. While for ordinary service applications, it was at 230,000, a slight decline versus 2022 as 2021 and 2022 marked the catch-up of the 2020 lag. But it's still high, considering the 230,000 ordinary service applications or simple connections energized in 2023, is actually 25% higher than the pre-pandemic numbers. So because of healthy energization rate, our customer count now stands at 7.83 million customers, 2.6% up, or more than 200,000 new customers increase from the 7.62 million customers recorded last year. And we're projecting that we'll hit 8 million by Q4 this year. That ends the customer report. I now turn over you to Froi for the networks report.

Thank you. To continue on network project updates. In the last quarter of 2023, we have completed eight major electric capital projects and supported one milestone or BBB/PPP pole relocation works. On October 15, 2023, we commissioned the replacement of the 34.5 kV switchgear at San Pablo 2 substation. This improved reliability of our electric service in the areas of Liliw, Nagcarlan, Calauan and San Pablo City in Laguna. We also commissioned the 69 kV capacitor bank at Alagao Switching Station on October 8. The newly installed capacitor bank will improve the voltage level, which will benefit major industrial customers in the area. The España-Magsaysay section of the North Luzon Expressway Connector Road opened last October 28. Meralco completed the relocation of sub-transmission and distribution lines involving the installation of 92 new poles and the retirement of 61 poles in the area. The 1.8-kilometer four-lane section is expected to ease traffic congestion in Metro Manila, especially along Edsa and C5. On November 8, we commissioned the new PAGCOR CBP 115 kV line, which will improve the reliability of 115 KV sub-transmission system in sector 3. And this line will enable the cutting-in of the future ASEANA GIS substation. We also commissioned the 115 kV capacitor bank at Duhat Substation on November 13. And this project will optimize the bank loading capacity and improve the voltage regulation and power factor in the area. On November 29, we commissioned the new Balagtas 115 kV-34.5 KV substation. This project will address the critical loading of Sta. Maria and Saog Substations. The new substation will improve our service in Balagtas, Bulacan and other adjacent areas, including the proposed Bulacan Airport and Railway. Last November 30, a new 33-MVA power transformer was energized to replace the Batangas Bank 1 power transformer. Finally, last December, we were able to commission two new GIS substations in Taguig City, the first of which was the new FBGC-2 115 kV-34.5 kV GIS Substation that was energized last December 7. And the second is the McKinley Hill GIS Substation that was commissioned on December 21. These projects improved the switching flexibility and power quality and reduced system loss in BGC, McKinley Hill and nearby areas. I'm now turning you over to Attorney Valles for the regulatory updates.

[indiscernible] the regulatory update. We start with the First Gas refund that was reported last week. So as a response to Meralco's letters on the use of LNG for the gas plants and the new GSPA for Santa Rita, the ERC letter dated February 12, stated that it is constrained from giving any clearance on the recovery of such costs pending Meralco's validating of the basis of such charges. So this is in response to Meralco's various letters, starting with the October letter and then followed up by another letter in November, December and January. So we received the letter on -- the reply of the ERC only in February. And by the time we received the ERC letter, it had already reflected the Santa Rita's invoice for January 2024, which included the new GSPA costs in Meralco's February 2024 generation charge. Nonetheless, in compliance with the ERC letter, even if Meralco had already validated the attendant costs, we advised Santa Rita that it will -- that we will withhold payment of the incremental costs of Malampaya gas under the new GSPA amounting to USD 2.3 million, equivalent of about PHP 0.04 to PHP 0.05 per kilowatt hour reduction in Meralco's March 2024 gen charge. And then we sent letters and filed urgent motions to seek ERC confirmation approval of the recovery from customers of the LNG costs during commissioning and the Malampaya costs under FGPC Santa Rita's new GSPA. So First Gas Power Corporation, FGP and FNPC sent letters to Meralco detailing the LNG costs and noting that Meralco's confirmation of full payment/reimbursement thereof is required prior to purchase of the next batch of LNG cargo. So we filed the appropriate manifestation with the ERC to inform it of the urgency of this matter to be resolved immediately. Next slide. So on the change in circumstances claims by ACEN Corporation for the 110-megawatt mid-merit PSA and 200-megawatt baseload PSA. So similar to San Miguel, ACEN also served notices, CIC notices to Meralco last February 1, 2024, over claim for their baseload PSA and also mid-merit PSA. The total project baseload is PHP 2.3 million. And for the mid-merit, it's about PHP 329 million -- PHP 2.3 billion rather for the baseload. So again, similar to the CIC claim of San Miguel, the specific triggering event is the steep climb of the coal prices in the NEWC Index caused by Indonesian coal export ban, exacerbated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict. And using, again, the same basis under the PSA, Section 11.3 as well as under the Civil Code Article 1267, the period covered by the claim of ACEN is from January 2022 to December 2022. So after validation, we were able to reduce the amount of the claim to a total of PHP 706 million. And ACEN has proposed a recovery of 6 months amounting to about PHP 0.03 to PHP 0.04 per kilowatt hour per month. So we will reply to the -- to ACEN informing it that we can -- we will join the filing of the motions for price adjustment in the relevant ERC cases for the reduced amount of PHP 705 million and with the proposed recovery period of 6 months. So we need to reply to ACEN and to join the filing because if we do not, then ACEN will exercise the right to terminate under the PSA, which we're trying to avoid because termination will mean that we will no longer be able to avail of the much cheaper rate of ACEN for the succeeding period of the term of the PSA. Also, we have received notices of claims from SPPC and Sual for additional CIC amounting to PHP 14.6 billion for SPI and PHP 15.9 billion for SPPC, this time covering a period of June 2022 to July 2023 billing periods for SPI and from May 26, 2022 to December 6, 2022, for SPPC. So we have replied to them. And we said that since both PSAs have already been terminated, there is no more basis under the contract for Meralco to join the filing of a motion for additional CIC claim. Now going to the results of the CSP for the 1,800 megawatt. Last December 27, 2023 was the bid submission and opening of bids date for this 1,800 megawatt. Shown on the screen are the winning bidders, namely GNPower for 300-megawatt capacity; Mariveles Power Corporation, again, for 300-megawatt capacity; and last is the Excellent Energy Resources for liquified natural gas for 1,200-megawatt capacity. So the last two are San Miguel owned and the first one is Aboitiz owned. So they all fall below the reserve prices of PHP 7.05 and PHP 7.39 for the headline rate and LCOE rate, respectively. So the notices of award have already been issued to the winning power suppliers, and the PSAs were correspondingly signed. So for the 1,200 megawatt, so last January 23, 2024, was the bid submission and opening of bids date. So only South Premiere Power Corporation owned by San Miguel emerged as the winning bidder for the 1,200 megawatt using liquefied natural gas with a rate of PHP 6.78 and PHP 7.07 for the headline and LCOE, respectively. First Natural Gas bid of 210 -- for 210 megawatt was way above the reserve prices of PHP 6.85 and PHP 7.15 headline and LCOE, respectively. So the notice of award was issued to SPPC, and the PSA has already been signed between the parties. Finally, this is just to report our receipt of the certification of full compliance from the Department of Energy. Among 31 DUs of the 140 total DUs, the DOE has deemed us, deemed Meralco as Compliant Electric Power Industry Participant in terms of the compliance form distribution development plan and the monthly operations report. And among 28 suppliers, we were deemed as Compliant Electric Power Industry Participant with respect to our MPower. That ends my report. Turning you over now to Mr. Jimmy Azurin.

Thank you, Ronald. For the power generation group, we were able to deliver a total of 14,293 gigawatt hours of energy in 2023, which is slightly higher versus the previous year due to improved plant availability and also of the commercial operation of our two solar plants located in Baras and Currimao that came online during the first quarter of 2023. GBP's energy delivered also increased by 2% compared to last year, reaching 5,867 gigawatt hours, a result of higher plant availability and strategically timed preventive maintenance. Meanwhile, for our San Buenaventura plant, both scheduled and forced outages tempered delivered energy to 2,360 gigawatt hours at an average plant availability of 85%. On the other hand, our Singapore-based subsidiary, PacificLight, expanded its energy delivered by 2% to 5,719 gigawatt hours. Lastly, MGreen, the renewable energy unit of MGen Group, delivered a total of 347 gigawatts of energy. As we continue in a low-carbon energy transition journey, significant achievements from this year highlight our progress. In the first quarter of 2023, we successfully inaugurated our 68-megawatt solar plant in Currimao, Ilocos Norte, a partnership with Vena Energy. Additionally, our 75-megawatt solar project in partnership with Mitsui in Baras, Rizal achieved notable progress, energizing 67.5 megawatts. During this period, it brings the MGen renewable capacity to nearly 200 megawatts by the close of 2023. Our commitment to sustainable energy continues with two successful qualifications in DOE's second round of Green Energy Auction Program. Winning bids secured the development of 49-megawatt solar plant in Cordon, Isabela and an 18.75-megawatt solar plant in Nueva Ecija, which will start operations by 2025. In Q4, we further advanced towards our renewable energy goals with MGreen's majority stake acquisition in SP New Energy Corp., or SPNEC. This initiative will develop a 3,500 gross capacity solar plant alongside 4,000 megawatt hours of battery energy storage systems in Luzon. In the years ahead, we expect the expansion of additional renewable projects, staying true to our pledge to deliver cleaner and more sustainable energy to the market. Thank you.

Good afternoon, everyone. I'll be presenting our sustainability updates for One Meralco. First, I'm very pleased to share with you some highlights from our long-term sustainability strategy, through which we articulate and outlined our just, orderly and affordable transition to clean energy between today and 2050, by which time we expect to be coal-free. This strategy will be carried out over 3 horizons: Horizon 1, which spans today through 2030, where we will initiate our transition to cleaner energy as we invest more heavily in renewable energy as presented in the MGen report; Horizon 2, 2031 to 2040 is where we will accelerate that shift as we assess and potentially adopt new, next-generation clean technologies; and then finally, 2041 to 2050 is where we will embark on what we call deep decarbonization as we expect and drive to be coal-free before the end of that horizon. So zeroing in on Horizon 1. This is underpinned by two -- twin commitments. First, the commitment to contract 1,500 megawatts of renewable energy supply; and second, the commitment to build 1,500 megawatts of attributable renewable energy capacities. So some quick updates on each of these commitments. On the first, we have actually overshot or exceeded the first commitment. To date, we have contracted close to 1,900 megawatts of renewable energy supply, to be specific 1,880 megawatts, across both Meralco as a distribution utility and as MPower. On the second commitment, we are also nearly there. We have built a pipeline of close to 4,000 megawatts or 3,971 megawatts to be exact. And this is equivalent to an attributable RE capacity of 1,442 megawatts. And you see the breakdown here on the screen across the different technologies that will be deployed. All in all, we are looking to deploy over PHP 100 billion in sustainable capital investments through 2030. A large portion of this, roughly PHP 43 billion of this spend will be allocated to building the aforementioned planned RE capacities. And finally, as a result of these efforts, we target to reduce our 2030 baseline emissions. First, our direct emissions, our Scope 1 emissions by 30%; and of course, our baseline total emissions by 20%. Now beyond decarbonization, our long-term sustainability strategy is also about social programs. And so we, through our One Meralco Foundation, aim to promote the well-being of communities with clean energy as an enabler across 5 social impact areas. And these areas are: education, water access, quality health care, livelihood productivity and disaster resilience. As an update, through the end of 2023, we have energized thus far 300 schools, 4 rural health centers and 3 agricultural facilities, all with renewable energy. In addition, 620 households have benefited from our electrification for water access program, which installs solar-powered pumps for potable water. We're also pleased to report that 2023 was another banner year for sustainability in Meralco with regard to our ESG ratings and also with regard to our international and local recognition. On ESG ratings, we achieved our all-time best score of 3.2 from FTSE Russell while maintaining our BBB rating for MSCI. We likewise maintained our inclusion...

We'd like to acknowledge the presence of our President -- of our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Manuel V. Pangilinan.

Good afternoon, Mr. Chair. Continuing on, we likewise maintained our inclusion in 3 key ESG indices, namely: FTSE4Good; the Bloomberg Gender Equality Index, in which we are the only Philippine utility which is part of that index; and also the World Benchmarking Alliance's SDG2000. 2023, on the next page, also saw us reaffirming our commitment to gender diversity and inclusion, with no less than our Chairman and CEO, MVP, signing the CEO Statement of Support to the United Nations Women Empowerment Principles. Meralco's gender D&I program, #MBrace, was also recognized with multiple international and local awards, including the Stevies or the International Business Awards and the 20th Philippine Quill Awards. Finally, in addition to the Stevies, Environmental Finance and the Quill Awards, our 2022 Combined Annual Sustainability -- Annual and Sustainability Report entitled Sikat, was recognized with a 4th rank by the Asia Sustainability Reporting Rating, or the ASRRAT of Indonesia. This is actually Meralco's fourth straight gold rank for our sustainability report since our maiden SR in 2019. Thank you very much.

Thank you, sir. That ends the presentations. We will now open the floor for questions.

[Operator Instructions] We have a question from Jelline Gaza. What is your CapEx budget for this year, broken down into DU, MIDC, MGen and SPNEC?

The total we had budgeted was about PHP 40 billion. PHP 24 billion will go to the distribution utility. PowerGen was at around PHP 4 billion. And then for the remaining would be for the other subsidiaries.

Still from Ms. Jelline, what drove the fourth quarter losses of GBPC?

Okay. I can start. Jimmy, if you want to add. So in the fourth quarter, actually, towards the end of the year, SBPL went on shutdown. So this is a maintenance shutdown, the first ever since they started operations. So there was a total of -- well, the total estimated maintenance expense was over 700 and of course, on total shutdown, there would be no revenue. But they're back on stream already in January. So this is actually scheduled.

And last question from Ms. Jelline. PLP saw fourth quarter profits dropped substantially. What drove this correction? And how should we expect earnings trend into 2024?

Okay. For PLP, it's the full margin that has come down in the last quarter of the year. And then moving on to 2022, one of the modules is actually on shutdown also, on maintenance shutdown. Moving forward, how do we look at this? Well, we do expect that -- well, margins will not be as rich as they were in the prior year, but they will continue to deliver positive contribution to the Meralco bottom line. Jimmy, you want to add anything?

Our next question from Ms. Karisa Magpayo of Macquarie. On power generation, it seems like power generation turned in a loss of PHP 500 million in the fourth quarter of 2023, as full year 2023 earnings contribution came in at PHP 9.7 billion versus PHP 10.2 billion in the 9 months of 2023. What led to this loss in the fourth quarter of 2023? Yes. We'll proceed with the next question for regulatory. May we get an update on the rate rebasing process? What is the expected time line for this?

So as you may be aware, we already filed a motion to withdraw, our 5RP because first 2 years of the 5RP that we have filed, which is the RY 2023 and the RY 2024 have already lapsed and therefore, cannot be considered for purposes of rate setting under PBR. So we are waiting for the ERC to decide on the motion for withdrawal. And then after that, we will decide on what to file with the ERC for the new fifth RP.

For our next question, we have someone raising his hand on the Teams Meet, Maheshwari, Mayank.

Just had one question on the Singapore power plant side. You talked about 86% of the Singapore power plant is now contracted. Can you just talk us about how are the -- is it a cost-plus kind of a mechanism that is contracted? And what could be the spreads which are -- is it going to be steady? How do you kind of think about that? And the second question related to that was more on the fourth quarter. What was the impact on EBITDA because of the maintenance that you kind of took in the fourth quarter?

for the power generation group, we want to reschedule our maintenance at the latter part of the year or early this year. It's because of the cold weather. So you will see that in the last quarter, it has dropped and also currently, first quarter, we expect another drop. But it will be -- go on stream coming -- by March of this year that all our operating plants are already operational.

We'll proceed to the next question from Ms. Eunice Dolatre from Security Bank. Congratulations on the results here. My initial questions, more color on the fourth quarter 2023 sales trends, especially the performance quarter-on-quarter. While it seems the quarter-on-quarter declines were evident across segments, can you share more guidance on the nearly 7% dip quarter-on-quarter in Residential volumes? For full year 2024, how do you see your volumes trending? And do you expect Commercial volumes growth to lead with Commercial segment now getting the larger share of Residential in full year 2023?

Yes. I'd like to answer that. So for the fourth quarter 2023 sales volume trend, I think the decline of 7% is really based on seasonality. Because quarter-on-quarter, the consumption really shows seasonality because of the temperature. Normally, our highest quarter is second quarter, which is evident in our numbers. So -- but to get a clear picture in terms of the trend, I think you should compare quarter-on-quarter versus previous year. And I think if you'll see, Residential actually declined 3% in quarter 1 compared to quarter 1 2022. But the succeeding quarters, it actually recovered. It's 5% higher in quarter 2 compared to 2022, 7% higher than quarter 3 and 5% higher in quarter 4, ending up at around 3.7% higher compared to the previous year. The next question is how do you see volumes trending. I think based on our forecast target, we forecasted around 4.7% increase in terms of DU sales volume. And I think in 2023, it's really Commercial that has driven growth at more than 37% share compared to the Residential, which still stood at 35%. And you'll see that trend perhaps continuing and -- but what we expect in 2024 is really more of a tempered growth, maybe lower than the 9% we experienced for Commercial this 2023. And I think that somehow, Industrial will recover driven by semiconductors, which actually showed growth January and February. And although it will be some sort of a tempered growth but of course, most of the segments will grow and leading to the whole -- close to 4.7% based on our forecast. Well, January -- of preview January, we actually grew 10%. Well, technically because of the impact of El Niño, Residential grew 14%, Commercial grew 11%, while Industrial is actually on a growth path at around 2.5%. And I think February showing good numbers, trending around 7% increase. And in March, we will have an extra day because of the leap year, so it actually will impact on sales in terms of a 3% add-on on demand sales.

Are there any more questions? There being none, thank you, everyone. I would like -- now like to call on our Chairman and CEO, Mr. Manuel V. Pangilinan, for some final words.

Well, nothing really much more to add to what -- especially to the -- in respect to the questions you've raised. But it is clear that the DU will likely grow this year. You've seen the trend in the first 2 months slightly to continue and probably an indication that the economy is doing probably better than we anticipated. The rest is probably going to be on a similar trend as we did in 2023. We just cannot predict with a fair degree of accuracy as to where it will eventually land in terms of profit for the entire year because it's pretty much of a trading operations now. So -- but we expect the RES unit to continue to produce significant profits for 2024 as it did in 2023. It was a major contributor to the PHP 10 billion growth in profitability in last year, approximately PHP 2.7 billion, a turnaround from the poor performance in 2022, where we had some issues on this adjustment, tariff adjustment flowing from the decrease in coal and gas prices. Now the generation will be an issue for us this year, in part because of the Singapore power plant, because of PLP. I think there's pressure on pricing, pressure on margins in Singapore. And so we expect profits to decline from PLP, probably in significant numbers. We're trying to signal that now. The extent of the decline is still to be determined with some accuracy with them. We know they have a budget, and so we're anticipating that the profits will decline in a fairly significant [ sales ] way. So we're trying to hold on to as much of the gains as possible that they achieved last year. And you've seen that happen because there were maintenance in December. And actually, there also had provisions, to be honest, they provided for in December last year so this way to see the turnaround in the fortunes of PLP last year. Now the same will happen with GBP because they showed significant -- the Global Business Power, significant turnaround in '23 compared to 2022. But that's the issue with power plants. I mean you can only sell as much as your capacity can allow you to. So there will be some ceiling to be brought about in terms of the profits you can produce, but of course, from market forces and pricing. What's the other one did you have GBP, that's it? The solar plants, they're not a factor, not yet, in the overall profit profile of Meralco nor in -- even at the level of MGen. I think the first month or 2 months, certain of the power plants -- coal plants are shut down because of scheduled maintenance. So we will see a hit on -- in terms of profitability of the generation for the first quarter. On a consolidated basis, I feel we will see an improvement in profitability for Meralco taken as a whole. So that's the reason why there was no profit guidance for 2024. I think quite a number of variables are still around in the business. So I hope we could get a better sense of where we will eventually land, but the budget still assume that there will be an increase in profitability in 2024 over 2023. We'll do our best to do that despite the challenges that generation poses on us because of the extremely good year in 2023, much better than we expected. But in many respects, PLP was a windfall profit starting 2022, partly in 2021 and certainly in 2023, when the profits at the level was about PHP 16 billion, right, and Meralco share was about PHP 9 billion or PHP 10 billion of that using the numbers. So a central task of management this year is to be able not only to maintain the profitability you've seen in 2023, but to raise it in 2024, and we will do that. Thank you.

Thank you, sir MVP. That concludes our briefing for today. You may listen to an audio recording of today's briefing from our website under the Investor Relations portion. Thank you very much for attending, and we hope to see you again when we release our first quarter results. Snacks will be served at the main dining hall. Have a good day, everyone.