The MERALCO Reddy Kilowatts was a powerhouse basketball team that played in the Manila Industrial and Commercial Athletic Association (MICAA) from 1968 to 1972. Operated by the MERALCO Athletic Club of the Manila Electric Company (MERALCO), they briefly joined the MICAA prior to World War II and was re-admitted in 1968. The team was crowned as the 1971 MICAA Open champions, beating the Crispa Redmanizers.[4]
The demise of the YCO-Ysmael Steel rivalry following the breakup of the Ysmael Steel team in 1968, paved the way for the MERALCO-Crispa rivalry starting in 1970. The rivalry came into full-bloom during the 1971 MICAA All-Filipino championship, when Reynoso and Jaworski punched referees Eriberto “Ting” Cruz and Jose “Joe” Obias for what was the duo perceived questionable calls against MERALCO. The incident resulted to lifetime suspensions meter against the two that were lifted eventually so that the two can join the national team in the 1973 Asian Basketball Championship.
The team disbanded in 1972 in the wake of the declaration of Martial Law in the Philippines, wherein the Marcos government seized MERALCO from Eugenio López, Sr.
PBA entry and the Sta. Lucia Realtors franchise acquisition
In June 2010, there were reports that Meralco expressed interest in joining the PBA and intended to buy either Sta. Lucia's or Barako Bull's franchise after both teams unloaded most of their major players.[5] After Barako Bull informed the board that they intended to stay with the league for the 2010–11 season, Sta. Lucia then filed a "leave of absence."[6] On August 10, the PBA board finally approved the sale of the Sta. Lucia franchise to Meralco. The team would be named the Meralco Bolts.
Ramon Segismundo announced the team's uniform for the 2012–13 season will have similar design features with the 1971 uniforms worn by the Meralco Reddy Kilowatts.[7]
2013–14 season
The Bolts made some offseason moves prior to the start of the season. They acquired "El Granada" Gary David from GlobalPort in exchange for Chris Ross, Chris Timberlake and Meralco's 2016 and 2017 second round picks.[8] They have also traded the rights of Asi Taulava to Air21 in exchange for Mike Cortez,[9] shipped Mark Cardona to Air21 via a three-team trade which in the process, acquired Rabeh Al-Hussaini.[10] They also acquired Kerby Raymundo from Ginebra for Jay-R Reyes. Raymundo has yet to play for the Bolts since he was traded because of a nagging knee injury, and is contemplating retirement.
Midway thru the eliminations, they signed up Danny Ildefonso for the rest of the conference, who was unceremoniously let go by Petron. After realizing that Danny I still has what it takes to play, and can still help the team in terms of his leadership and positive influence, the Bolts signed him for the rest of the season.[11]
During the PBA Philippine Cup conference, they were off to a good start, and were able to beat top-seed teams like Ginebra. However, they suffered losing streak and ended up in a four-way tie with Alaska, GlobalPort and Barako Bull. Since Barako Bull and GlobalPort have higher quotients, Meralco was forced to play a sudden death game with Alaska Aces to determine the eighth and final playoff spot. The Aces defeated them and thus they were eliminated from playoff contention.
2014–15 season
In 2014–15 PBA Philippine Cup conference, they performed well, even eliminating the defending champion Purefoods Star Hotshots, but were later eliminated by Alaska Aces
In 2015 Commissioner's Cup, they are in an undefeated streak due to their good performance. The team also had its import Josh Davis who helped to maintain their great streak.
In the Governor's Cup, the team tapped Seiya Ando as their import, alongside Andre Emmett. Due to this, Ando became the first Japanese import in the league.
2015–16 season
The 2015–16 PBA Philippine Cup was not as good as they had before. They suffered the worst with a 1–10 record. However, the team drafted Chris Newsome and Baser Amer.
The team improved very well in the Commissioner's Cup, where they were led by ex-Maccabi Tel Aviv BC player Arinze Onuaku, who would win the Best Import of the Conference award. The team also went through some setbacks, with the suspension of Gary David in a game during an elimination round, due to insubordination. David was later removed from the line-up and becoming an unrestricted agent list.[12]
The team also went to the Finals for the first time in their franchise history on the Governors' Cup. The Bolts were able to upset the top-seed TNT KaTropa by winning their best-of-five semifinal series in four games. They faced the crowd favorite Barangay Ginebra San Miguel in the Finals. Meralco entered the Finals as the underdogs, but managed to put up a fight and even steal Game 1. Although Ginebra won in six games, it was considered to be one of the most entertaining Finals series in recent memory. Meralco's import, Allen Durham also won the Best Import award and rookie guard/forward Chris Newsome won Rookie of the Year.
2016–17 season
Before the season, Jimmy Alapag retired again, this time for good.[13] The Bolts returned to the Governors' Cup Finals after a worst performance in Philippine Cup and a quarterfinals defeat in the second conference, but this time with a TNT veteran Ranidel de Ocampo. Even though they recovered on a 0–2 deficit, they still lost by seven games.[14]
2017–18 season
For the first time since their first finals appearance, Meralco did not passed the semifinals, as they are defeated by the Alaska Aces in a best of five saga in the 2018 PBA Governors' Cup.[15] It will also be Jared Dillinger's final season with the team.
2019 season
With the addition of Raymond Almazan and Allein Maliksi, the Bolts reached again the finals, but facing again Ginebra. They lost in the series in five games.[16]
2020 season
After the COVID-19 struck in the Philippines, the league announced to play at a bubble modeled like of the NBA. Only the Philippine Cup was played and they placed fifth in the eliminations. But when they reached semifinals, they lost to their archnemesis Barangay Ginebra.
2021 season
The league now will play with two conferences, due to some lowering of regulations by the IATF. Now, Meralco without Baser Amer, after being traded to Blackwater for Mac Belo, was now led by Chris Newsome and Raymond Almazan. The Bolts reached the semifinals of the first conference facing the Magnolia Hotshots, but lost in six games.[17] They reached the finals again in Governors' Cup, but again defeated by Ginebra in six games due to injuries occurred on Almazan.
2022–23 season
In the middle of Philippine Cup, Norman Black filed leave for personal reasons and replaced by Luigi Trillo for last five games of the elimination round.[18] Trillo led the team to the first playoff victory against Barangay Ginebra in Game 3.[19] Black returned after Game 1 loss against San Miguel Beermen and led the team to tie the series, but wasn't enough to win the series and lost in seven games.
After a bad performance in Commissioner's Cup, they tapped K. J. McDaniels as their reinforcement in the Governors' Cup but they were defeated by eventual champions TNT Tropang Giga in the semifinals.[20]
2023–24 season
Commissioner's Cup
After years of service as head coach, Norman Black was now reassigned as team consultant and Luigi Trillo will replace him on the former position.[21]
In the Commissioner's Cup, parading Shonn Miller as their import, Bolts finished in the 5th place with 8–3 record tied with Ginebra and Phoenix, and the lowest of the three. Ended up with twice-to-win disadvantage, Meralco faced Phoenix Fuel Masters and forced a second game by winning the first game against Phoenix in a triple overtime and score of 116–107, thanks to a Cliff Hodge 20-point performance and Miller's 20 rebound game.[22] But they are still eliminated in the second game 88–84, even three players scored 15 points.[23][24]
Philippine Cup
Bolts did not duplicated the previous conference's win-loss record, but able to secure third-seed with winning quotient with other four teams (TNT, Rain or Shine, NLEX and Magnolia) with 6–5. In the best-of-three quarterfinals, they swept the NLEX Road Warriors.
Ginebra Scare
In the semifinals, the team faced their archrivals Barangay Ginebra. Game 1 and 5, Ginebra won by 4 points in both games;[25][26] the Bolts eventually beat Barangay Ginebra in seven games despite being down from a 2-3 deficit.[27][28][29]
First Championship
In the finals, they faced the San Miguel Beermen, who are dominated the conference and recently swept the Rain or Shine. After a Chris Newsome clutch basket in Game 6 and a June Mar Fajardo missed three-point shot, they won the finals series in 4–2, and grabbed their first championship in franchise history.[30]
The TNT Tropang Giga is a professional basketball team currently owned by Smart Communications, a subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Company (PLDT), playing in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) since 1990.
The San Miguel Beermen are a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). It is one of three PBA clubs owned by the San Miguel Corporation group of companies along with the Magnolia Hotshots and Barangay Ginebra San Miguel. It is the most successful franchise in the history of the PBA and the only remaining original franchise in the league. The Beermen have the most titles with 29 and the most all-time victories with more than 1,200 wins. In addition, it has won the Grand Slam in 1989 and the Perpetual Jun Bernardino Trophy after winning three straight PBA Philippine Cups from 2015 to 2017. It is also the only team to have won at least one PBA title in each of the six numerical decades of the league's existence and was the first professional basketball team ever to come back from a 0–3 deficit to win a best-of-seven playoff series which they did during the 2015–16 Philippine Cup Finals.
The Barako Bull Energy Boosters were a professional basketball team of the Philippine Basketball Association owned by the Photokina Marketing Corporation. They entered the league in 2000 after a successful stint in the semi-professional Philippine Basketball League during the late 1990s under the name Agfa Color where the team won a championship in 1996. It was originally known as Red Bull Barako before the team announced its name change.
The Barangay Ginebra San Miguel is a professional basketball team in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The most popular team in the league, it is owned by Ginebra San Miguel, Inc., a subsidiary of the San Miguel Corporation (SMC). The team is one of three PBA ball clubs currently owned by the SMC group of companies, along with the Magnolia Chicken Timplados Hotshots and the San Miguel Beermen. Barangay Ginebra has won 15 PBA championships, the second most overall.
The Powerade Tigers were a professional basketball team that played in the Philippine Basketball Association from 2002 to 2012. The franchise was owned by Coca-Cola Bottlers Philippines, Inc. (CCBPI) when the company acquired Cosmos Bottling Corporation from RFM Corporation. From 2002 to 2010, the team played as the Coca-Cola Tigers. The franchise won two PBA championships.
In the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA), the Grand Slam is the achievement of winning all three conference championships (tournaments) in a single season. As of 2020, this has been accomplished five times by four teams and four coaches since the league's inception in 1975.
The 2010–11 PBA season was the 36th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. It started on October 3, 2010 and ended on August 21, 2011. The season marked the return of the original three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup, or the traditional All-Filipino Conference. The import-laden Commissioner's Cup returned as the second tournament, while the Governors' Cup also returned, serving as the third conference which also served as an import-laden tournament.
The 2010–11 Meralco Bolts season was the first season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). The team took over the Sta. Lucia Realtors after the franchise was sold to Manila Electric Company in August 2010.
The 2011–12 PBA season was the 37th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The season was formally opened on October 2, 2011 at the Smart Araneta Coliseum, and finished on August 5, 2012. The season used three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup, or the traditional All-Filipino Conference. The mid season Commissioner's Cup featured unlimited height limit for imports. The Governors' Cup became the third and final conference for this season.
The 2012–13 PBA season was the 38th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The season formally opened on September 30, 2012, and finished October 25, 2013. This was the longest in PBA history with 13-month span. The season continued to use the three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup, or the traditional All-Filipino Conference. The mid season Commissioner's Cup will continue to feature unlimited height limit for imports. The last conference of the season, the Governors' Cup will have imports with a 6'5" height limit.
The 2012 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) rookie draft was an event held at Robinson's Midtown Mall in Ermita, Manila on August 19, 2012 which allowed PBA teams to draft players from the amateur ranks.
The 2012–13 Alaska Aces season was the 27th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
The 2012–13 Barako Bull Energy was the 11th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA). Formerly known as Barako Bull Energy Cola in the Philippine Cup and Commissioner's Cup.
The 2012–13 Meralco Bolts season was the third season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
The 2012–13 San Mig Coffee Mixers season was the 25th season of the franchise in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA).
The 2013 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Commissioner's Cup was the second conference of the 2012–13 PBA season. The tournament began on February 8 and ended on May 19, 2013. The tournament is an import-laden format, which requires an import or a pure-foreign player for each team and with no height limit. From the semifinal round onwards, the tournament is sponsored by Cebuana Lhuillier.
The 2013–14 PBA season was the 39th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The season formally opened on November 17, 2013, and finished on July 9, 2014. The league continued to use the three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup, or the traditional All-Filipino Conference. The Commissioner's Cup and the Governors' Cup is the second and third conferences for this season. Originally scheduled to end on August 13, the season schedule was shortened to allow more time for Gilas Pilipinas to prepare for the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup and the 2014 Asian Games.
The 2013 Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Rookie Draft was an event, which allows teams to draft players from the amateur ranks. The event was held at Midtown Atrium, Robinson Place Manila on November 3, 2013.
The 2014–15 PBA season was the 40th season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The season formally opened on October 19, 2014, and finished on July 17, 2015. The league continued to use the three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup. The Commissioner's Cup and the Governors' Cup were the second and third conferences for this season, respectively.
The 2015–16 PBA season was the 41st season of the Philippine Basketball Association. The league continued to use the three-conference format, starting with the Philippine Cup. The Commissioner's Cup and the Governors' Cup were the second and third conferences of the season.
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2024–25 Meralco Bolts season 
