Govt to streamline procedure in obtaining electricity supply

By Godang Sitompul

The government will streamline the procedure for industries and households in obtaining electricity supply as part of efforts to help accelerate economic development.

Director General of Electricity, Jarman said at a discussion on Thursday that the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources was expected to issue a new regulation cutting down the bureaucracy procedure in December of this year so that by January a new much leaner procedure will be in place.

Technical Director at the Directorate General, Agus Triboesono said that under the plan, the number of procedures will be halved from six to three, cutting down the time requirement from 102 days to 40, and the government will also remove the Rp 3.25 million installation fee.

According to a survey by the World Bank, Indonesia?s is ranked 147th in terms of ease of electricity access out 185 countries surveyed.

The government has set a target of 3.47 new electricity consumers, of 3.2 million are household consumers, and the remainders industrial consumers.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak