PLN appoints NZ firm to determine geothermal power tariff

State-owned electricity firm PT. Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) has appointed New Zealand(NZ)-based consultancy firm Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) as an independent auditor to help the company settle tariff dispute for electricity to be produced by geothermal power plant under cooperation with state-owned oil and gas firm Pertamina.

This was said by PLN President Director Nur Pamudji over the weekend as quoted by news portal Tempo.co.

Pamudji said that PLN and Pertamina signed several years ago an agreement for the geothermal electricity project including the tariff of electricity to be produced by the plant when PLN at the time was led by Dahlan Iskan (now State Minister of State-Owned Enterprises). But Pertamina has recently asked for a rise in the tariff.

To help determine whether the feasibility of the tariff hike request, PLN and Pertamina have appointed SKM as an independent auditor. The result of the audit by SKM will be used by the two firms to determine the tariff hike, Pamudji said. ?Hopefully, through the audit result, an agreement on new tariff can be reached,? he said.

Sinclair Knight Merz (SKM) is a leading projects firm, with global capability in strategic consulting, engineering and project delivery. (*)