PLN expected to clarify allegations of operating plants at overly low capacity

State electricity firm PLN will be asked to clarify in a parliamentary hearing next month about allegations that the company?s power plants were operating at overly low capacity, a legislator told Petromindo.Com Thursday.

?We would like to know from PLN the real situation at its plants. It is a very crucial issue that we have to address as soon as possible,? said Julius Bobo, chairman of the subcommittee of the House commission in charge of energy and mineral resources.

The House will end its one-month recess later this month.

A group of power experts and activists disclosed recently that PLN?s power plants were operating at only 40 percent of their total capacity, combined.

The so-called Working Group on Power Sector Restructuring (WGPSR) suspected that PLN?s insistence on raising power rates had been due to its covered plan to pay losses caused by its inefficiency.

PLN has increased power rates by an average of six percent every three months beginning this year.

Aside from its own plants, PLN also receives electricity from independent power producers. (leo)