PLN's losses reach Rp 6.5 trillion in Q2

State-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) suffered a loss of Rp 6.5 trillion during the second quarter of 2006 despite the the company's budget plan target of Rp 1.4 trillion profit.

Base on the company's written report, which was presented at a working meeting between members of the House of Representatives' Commission VII and Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources on Monday in Jakarta, the power company earned an operational income of Rp 45.68 trillion during the second quarter. But the operational costs reached Rp 50.89 trillion and thus PLN suffered an operational loss of Rp 5.21 trillion.

Finance director Parno Isworo said PLN was unable to reduce losses to 10.2 percent, which was mentioned as a target in the budget plan, instead it was able to cut losses to 12.06 percent.

?Without new investment, it will be very difficult to reduce the losses,? Parno said.

At least, Parno said, PLN needs Rp 3-4 trillion per year to reduce losses. During the second quarter, the total PLN?s investment reached Rp 2.77 trillion.

But PLN has successfully surpassed several targets like the sale of electricity to 54,857.78 GWh from a target of 54,668.27 GWh. The target in terms of a number of consumers has also surpassed from 489,968 to 653,222 and this figure is expected to reach 1.40 million by end of this year. (godang/ryanto)