PLN will face capital problems if industries do not pay new tariffs

State electricity firm PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) will face capital problems if industrial customers do not settle their unpaid electricity bills according to the new tariffs, according to PLN's distribution and business director Eddie Widiono.

Speaking at a hearing with the House of Representatives' Commission V, Eddie disclosed that industrial customers in the 3rd and 4th electricity tariff categories owed PLN a total of Rp 300 billion.

"We don't know when we will stay afloat. Now, our working capital stays at only Rp 1.9 trillion from Rp 30 trillion before. Meanwhile, our operating cost stay at Rp 24 trillion annually," he said.

Eddie explained that out of 54 industrial customers in the 4th tariff category, 36 customers paid the new tariffs fully, while 18 others rejected to pay the new tariffs fully.

He explained that PLN would give seven months time for those who refused to pay the new tariffs to settle their debt plus penalties. If they still refused to pay, Eddi said, PLN would have no other way than cutting electricity supplies for them.

"We avoid cutting electricity supplies. But we have given them a grace period of seven months. If they remain defiant... we will not sell electricity to them," he said.

The House's Commission V said that it would summon some associations, including the Association of Textile Producers (API), for a hearing together with PLN.

Meanwhile, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said that his party would not intervene in PLN's current affairs with its customers. He would let PLN solve the problem by itself.

"The conflict between PLN and the industrial sector is only a matter of market problem, which they have to settle by themselves," he said. (*)