PLN to supply electricity to five smelting plants

PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) says it is ready to provide electricity supply of between 70 megawatts to 150 megawatts to five smelting plants, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Friday.

PLN?s director for planning and risk management Murtaqi Syamsuddin said in on Thursday that the smelters would be built by mining companies in order to comply with the new mining law which would ban exports of unprocessed metal in 2014.

He said that two of the five miners had signed a memorandum of understanding with PLN. They are PT Bosowa Metal Industri dan PT Bumi Modern Sejahtera which would build smelters in South Sulawesi and East Java, respectively.

The supply for the power plants would be treated specially and with a special price, he said in Klebet village, Tangerang, Banten, during a ceremony to install a prepaid electricity service to the company?s 5-millionth prepaid-customers.

With 5 million prepaid customers, Indonesia becomes the country with the highest prepaid electricity customers in the world, overtaking South Afrika, Murtaqi said.(*)