Aboitiz Power Corporation’s consolidated net income for the first quarter nearly tripled to Php6.2 billion from Php2.1 billion year-on-year.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, AboitizPower attributed the profit surge to high water inflows, higher availability of its thermal plants, and higher spot sales, which offset the lower electricity demand due to the COVID-19 quarantines.

The country’s largest power generator was also able to claim liquidated damages for the delay in the construction of the GNPower Dinginin coal-fired power plant, as well as receive the final payment for business interruption claims resulting from the GNPower Mariveles coal plant outages last year. Both plants face the northern side of the Manila Bay’s entrance in Mariveles, Bataan.

“Our first quarter results are very encouraging. We intend to keep this growth momentum by continuously working towards our availability and reliability targets. We are excited about GNPower Dinginin getting very close to commercial operations,” AboitizPower President and CEO Emmanuel Rubio said in the disclosure.

AboitizPower’s generation and retail supply business recorded and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of Php11.9 billion for the first quarter, 60% higher than the Php7.4 billion recorded during the same period last year.

Capacity sold for the first quarter increased by three percent to 3,558MW, compared to 3,445 MW in the same period in 2020. Energy sold increased by eight to 6,130 gigawatt-hours (GWh) for the first quarter of 2021, compared to 5,675 GWh year-on-year.

AboitizPower’s distribution business recorded an EBITDA of Php2.07 billion, two percent lower than the Php2.12 billion recorded during the same period last year. Energy sales decreased by eight percent to 1,308 GWh during the first three months of 2021, compared to 1,429 GWh in the same period in 2020. This was driven by lower energy consumption from the power firm’s commercial and industrial customers amid continued lockdown restrictions.

AboitizPower’s net income fell by 27% to Php12.6 billion in 2020 from Php17.3 billion in 2019.