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PLN allocates Rp 74t for capex this year
State power utility firm PT PLN will allocate Rp 74 trillion (US$7
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tate power utility firm PT PLN will allocate Rp 74 trillion (US$7.99 billion) for its capital expenditure (capex) this year, expecting to gain Rp 160 trillion in revenue.
“We will allocate Rp 74 trillion for capex, however we only have Rp 23 trillion ready to be disbursed,” PLN newly appointed president director Dahlan Iskan told reporters on a sidelines of a PLN stakeholder meeting in Jakarta on Wednesday.
He said that of the Rp 23 trillion now available, Rp 3 trillion would be taken from the internal budget while the rest would come from previous commitments.
However, Dahlan declined to explain the details of these commitments.
He said PLN was now planning to seek about Rp 51 trillion to fulfill the budget needed for the required capital expenditure by issuing bonds or seeking loans from banks.
“Both bank loans and bonds have their own advantages, but we will select the one that is more profitable for us,” he said.
Dahlan also revealed that it was also possible that the company would ask for loans in the Chinese yuan currency — also known as the renminbi (RMB).
“We are considering to ask for loans in Chinese [renminbi] currency because the rupiah has strengthened currently,” Dahlan said, adding that some banks from China had agreed to give loans related to the first 10,000 megawatt (MW) power plant program.
Currently, in the short and medium term, PLN is depending on two massive programs — the first and second 10,000 MW power plant programs to help the country cope with the current electricity shortage which has led to blackouts in the provinces and Jakarta.
PLN still has some time to finalize its decisions on how to mobilize its funds as the capital expenditure funds will be needed by the middle of 2010, he added.
Setio Anggoro Dewo, the PLN finance director, said 55 percent of the required capital expenditure would be used to finance new power plant projects, while the rest of the budget would be for building electricity transmission systems and repairing substations.
The company plans to build improved transmission systems outside Java and Bali in order to meet electricity demand and to repair 12 substations in Jakarta, Bandung (in West Java), Semarang (Central Java) and Surabaya (East Java).
The company will also allocate Rp 114 trillion for PLN operational expenditure (opex) which will be financed from the internal budget and the government subsidy.
The opex would mostly be disbursed to purchase gas from state gas and oil producer PT Pertamina.
Dahlan predicted that PLN would reduce oil consumption next year, “As several of PLN’s new power plants will be gas-fired.”
Dewo said that PLN had targeted to get Rp 160 trillion in revenue this year and to make Rp 12 trillion in net profit, but the company had to wait until the government approved an increase in the margin written into the government subsidy for electricity production and distribution to 8 percent, up from 5 percent previously.
It was reported the margin increase was aimed at making PLN internal financial balance healthier, increasing the company’s financial credentials and borrowing capacity.
“This year the company will allocate 54 percent of its net profit for dividends,” Dewo said.
The company succeed in turning the Rp 13.9 trillion loss in 2008 into a profit last year, due to the electricity production and distribution subsidy.
Last year, PLN gained Rp 140 trillion in unaudited revenue and Rp 7 trillion in unaudited net profits.
