PLN reports rising power sales to industries

State-owned electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) said that electricity sales to industries in the first six months of this year grew by 5.91 percent year-on-year following electricity tariff discount introduced in January.

The company said in a statement Thursday that the 30 percent tariff discount program, given for the consumption of electricity by industries between 11 pm until 8 am, has been participated by 1,073 customers from medium to large-scale industries, creating additional power consumption of 256 GWh. The program was launched as part of the government?s economic policy package announced in October of last year to help accelerate investment in the country.

PLN said that the first semester electricity sales growth is the largest growth rate in the past two and-a-half years. In comparison, electricity sales to industries in the first-half of last year declined by 2.7 percent.

PLN said that electricity sales to large industries during the first semester of this year jumped by 12.98 percent year-on-year, while sales to medium-scale industries increased by 4.03 percent.

Aside from the tariff discount, PLN also provided a program for labor intensive industries to delay up to 40 percent of their electricity bills, participated by 238 industries, with total delayed payment worth Rp 1.25 trillion.

Editing by Reiner Simanjuntak