PLN’s tariff increase plan still uncertain: Purnomo

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that the government has not yet decided whether or not it would support the proposal of the state owned electricity company PLN to raise the electricity tariffs.

“The government still wait for the decision of the House of Representatives on PLN’s subsidy allocation for 2006,” Purnomo told reporters on Monday. He also said that he was aware that PLN was proposing several scenarios on tariff increase.

PLN has proposed an increase in electricity tariff by between 23 percent and 59 percent in a bid to cope with the sharp increase in the company’s operational costs resulting from the higher fuel prices.

During the meeting with DPR members recently, PLN proposed several scenarios of tariff increase including;

- PLN will not increase the tariff, if the government provides it with a subsidy of Rp 38.48 trillion.

- The tariff will be increased by 23 percent from Rp 582 per kWh at present if the government provides subsidy of up to Rp 25.51 trillion. In this scenario, the tariff for subscribers of 450 VA to be exempted from an increase.

- The tariff will be increased by 29 percent, if the government gives a subsidy of about Rp 21.68 trillion. The tariff for users with 450 VA usages will be increased on a selective basis.

- The tariff will be increased by 39 percent, if the subsidy from the government totals only about Rp 12.98 trillion while the last option is that the tariff will be increased by 59 percent if the government refuses to provide subsidy. (dino)