BusinessWorld March 2, 2021 | 12:10 am Fourth-quarter profit slips as homes take biggest consumption share MANILA Electric Co. (Meralco) posted a core net income of P5.98 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020, down 11.2% year on year to cap 2020 with residential users accounting for the biggest share of power consumption. Excluding one-time items, the power distribution utility’s reported income slipped by around 2% to P5.064 billion, its finance chief said in a media briefing on Monday. For full-year 2020, Meralco reported an 8.9% drop in core net income to P21.71 billion as it logged lower electricity sales due to reduced power purchases. “We ended 2020 with consolidated core net income of P21.7 billion, about 9% lower than the P23.8 [billion] in 2019,” Meralco Senior Vice-President and Chief Finance Officer Betty C. Siy-Yap said to present the listed firm’s operating and financial results for 2020.