PLN electricity sales up 3.1 percent

State-owned electricity company PT PLN saw electricity sales in the first nine months of this year ending September increased by 3.1 percent to 163.6 TWh from 158.6 TWh in the corresponding period of last year

PLN said in a statement on Friday that electricity sales in the western Java Region during the period increased by 2.8 percent to 39.4 TWh from 38.3 TWh.

The western Java Region covers Banten Distribution Area and Greater Jakarta Distribution Area, where electricity sales, respectively, grew by 6.7 percent, and declined by 0.4 percent.

The statement said that the higher electricity sales come following the operation of new independent power producer (IPP) power plants in the region such as the 600 MW IPP PLTU Banten coal-fired power plant.

?The increase in electricity sales of PLN is a positive signal that the Indonesian economy keeps growing,? said Dadan Kusdiana, Spokesman of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in the statement.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak