Govt to set ceiling price of geothermal power supply to PLN

The Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources is likely to set the ceiling price of geothermal power supply from producers to state-owned electricity company PLN at a maximum of 80 percent of PLN's "power provision basic costs", Kontan reported Saturday

The ministry's Director General for Power Generation and Energy Development J. Purwono said in Jakarta Friday that the policy regarding the ceiling price would be stated in a ministerial decree.

"We are still formulating the decree and hopefully it could be issued in early February," he said.

Based on the new policy, the selling prices of gothermal power from producers to PLN vary across the country as PLN's basic costs in one region is different from those in other regions.

"Basic provision costs" is the costs spent by PLN in providing power to consumers.

In Java, for example, the price of the geothermal power supply is about 5.7 U.S. cent per kilowatt hour, compared to about 10 U.S. cent outside Java, he said.

"The actual price should be decided through business to business negotiations between PLN and the geothermal power plant owners, but not higher then 80 percent of PLN's basic provision costs" he said. (*)