Napocor sales up 7.2% in 1st 2 mos

The National Power Corp. (Napocor) recorded a 7.22-percent growth in energy sales for the first two months of the year compared to the same period in 1999.

Napocor sold a total of 6,125.68 gigawatthours (gwH) in January and February this year compared to 5,713.26 in the same period in 1999 buoyed by increased revenues from the innovative One-Day Power Sales (ODPS) scheme.

Napocor president Federico E. Puno noted that while the Luzon Grid sold more gwH than all the other grids, it was the Visayas Grid that recorded a double-digit increase in sales.

Luzon accounted for 4,760.728 gwH in the first two months of 2000 compared to the 4,451,182 gwH last year for a 6.95-percent increase as it continued to account for more than two-thirds of energy produced by Napocor.

However, the Visayas Grid recorded a whopping 11.62-percent growth rate, or from 476.096 gwH in 1999 to 531.427 gwH in the first two months of the year.

Puno noted that a large number of self-generators for export processing zones and industrial estates aggressively purchased power through Napocor's dump power program and the ODPS.

Last year, Napocor failed to meet its target energy sales of 38,300 gwH in 1999 as it only sold 36,418 gwH due to low demand from industries.

The activation of several independent power producers (IPPs) in the three major grids had significantly affected Napocor's energy sales, and thus had influenced its decision to bring down its forecasts to only 35,334 gigawatt-hours to be sold for the rest of the year 2000.