BPK's audit on PLN operating costs will be completed early March

The result of the Supreme Audit Agency's (BPK) audit on operating costs of state owned electricity company PLN, which will be used as the reference to determine the rise in the electricity tariff, will be announced in early March, an auditor of BPK said as reported by Bisnis Indonesia on Saturday.

"We hope the result of the audit can be announced on March 7 or March 8," Burhanuddin Aritonang, a senior auditor at BPK, was quoted as saying by the business daily. According to him, the audit is conducted by a special auditing team led by senior auditor Uju Juhairi.

The government has proposed an increase in the electricity tariff by an average of up to 100 percent to cope with PLN's rising costs as the result of the surge in fuel prices. But the House of Representatives rejects the proposal saying that they would study the proposed tariff hike only if PLN's operating is audited.

The Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) has issued an official statement refusing the planned increase in the power rates. They said that the increase would pose another blow to their operations which have been severely hurt by the sharp increase in the fuel prices last year. (*)