Govt urged to continue negotiations for a cut in Sarulla, Bedugul power rates

The House on Wednesday urged the government to continue negotiations for a cut in electricity rates with developers of Sarulla power plant in North Sumatra and Bedugul power plant in Bali.

The chairman of House commission VIII in charge of energy and mineral resources, Emir Moeis, said that the price of electricity to be purchased from the geothermal power plants should be reduced to levels reachable to the country?s state electricity firm PLN which will further sell it to local consumers.

The House commission was responding to Coordinating Minister for the Economy Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti who said in Wednesday?s hearing with the commission that developers of Sarulla and Bedugul projects had offered their electricity at 6.1 US cent dollar and 6.35 US cent dollar per kilowatt hour, respectively. They are planned to have capacity of 3x110 megawatts (MW) and 2x110 MW, respectively.

Emir did not say however to which level the price of electricity from the plants must be reduced when he read out conclusion remarks of the hearing that was also attended by Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources and PLN president director Eddie Widiono.

U.S. oil and gas firm Unocal owns 90 percent of the Sarrula project, while the Bedugul project is owned by a consortium of PT Pandanwangi Sekartaji, California Energy, and PT Wawatindo.

The two projects were among the 27 power projects suspended by the government in 1998 after severe economic crisis hit the country. (godang)