LOPEZ-LED First Gen Corp. (First Gen) on Wednesday said that attributable recurring net income for the first quarter had fallen by 9 percent to $81 million, from $89 million in the same period last year, on lower volumes of electricity sold.

In a disclosure, the company said that revenues also fell by 9 percent, to $596 million from $652 million last year, as electricity sales from most of its generation platforms except for hydro decreased.

"As we expected, First Gen started the year slow with the expiration of San Gabriel's contract with Manila Electric Company [Meralco]," First Gen President and COO Francis Giles B. Puno said in a statement.

San Gabriel is a 420-MW natural gas-fired power plant owned by First Natgas Power Corp., a First Gen subsidiary.

"Moreover, prices in the market were also generally lower with adequate supply available in the first quarter of 2024."

"This was cushioned by our takeover of the Casecnan [hydro plant] last February. San Gabriel likewise went on a major maintenance outage as soon as its contract with Meralco expired," Puno said, adding that the plant was currently supplying the grid after coming back online last April 6.

The natural gas portfolio accounted for 65 percent of consolidated revenues while 31 percent came from Energy Development Corp.'s (EDC) geothermal, wind, and solar plants and the balance from its hydro plants and First Gen Energy Solutions, its retail electricity supplier.

In the natural gas business, First Natgas saw a 4 percent decrease in recurring earnings to $43 million from $45 million previously.

First Gen said the impact of the power supply deal expiration with Manila Electric Co. was mostly offset by higher recurring earnings of both the 97-megawatt Avion Power Plant and the 1,000-MW Santa Rita Power Plant, together with FGEN LNG Corp. generating commissioning revenues from pre-commercial operations.

EDC's geothermal portfolio likewise saw a lower recurring net income of $26 million for the first quarter, down 33 percent year-on-year, on lower power prices and increased operating expenses.

On the other hand, the hydro platform's contribution to recurring earnings was up 12 percent at $8 million, boosted by the takeover of the Casecnan hydro plant in February 2024.

First Gen shares on Wednesday fell by 54 centavos, or 2.79 percent, to close at P18.80 each.

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