Govt will soon issue electricity regulations

The government is currently finalizing new regulations in the power sector to help attract new private investment into the sector and increase power supply to meet growing future demand, the Koran Tempo newspaper reported in its Monday edition.

“Currently, it (the draft of the regulations) is at the Cabinet Secretariat. It's in the form of regulations regarding licenses for power producers and their business partners,” director general of power and power utilization Yogo Pratomo said in Jakarta on Sunday,

Investors, according to Yogo, will invest their money in the power sector once the regulations are ready.

“We wanted to implement them (the regulations) soon because it was already discussed at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, interdepartmental and other institutional levels,” Yogo said. He did not provide more details.

At present investors must form partnership with state-owned power company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN)to develop power project here. And the investors can’t own majority stake in the project.

“Once the government regulations are ready, private owners can have majority stake,” Yogo said.

Indonesia needs US$30 billion investment for the power sector in the coming 10 years.(*)