Govt to reduce electricity subsidies for industry

REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Government will reduce electricity subsidies for 432 industrial customers worth 7.9 trillion IDR. President Director of PLN, Nur Pamudji explained that about 371 industrial customers were grouped as listed companies (Tbk) or Group 13, while 61 companies as Group 14.

Group 13 uses medium voltage power above 200 kilovolt amperes (kVA), while Group 14 using high voltage power above 30 thousand kVA. Each group will be reduced worth 1.3 trillion IDR and 6.6 trillion IDR.

"Government plans to reduce the subsidy through a tariff increases for Group 13 and 14 gradually," Pamudji said recently.

This plan is waiting for decision of Commission VI at House of Representatives. However, Budget Agency in a discussion of Plan Budget and Expenditure for 2014 has approved the plan. Government saw that the increased electricity tariff for large scale industry would not overly impact on national economy.

The use of biodiesel for power plant also gave benefit for the state owned electricity company up to 15 percent in form of saved budget.