T

he feud between state electricity company PT PLN and business owners over new power tariffs heated up Friday.

The Indonesian Employers Association (Apindo) issued a letter requesting all its members throughout the country pay their electricity bills using the old tariffs until an official decision on new tariffs was made by the government.

Apindo chairman Sofjan Wanandi told The Jakarta Post that PLN could not unilaterally enforce its policies on power tariffs without acquiring approvals from the government and the House of Representatives.

“We will wait for the government’s decision. We hope that next week we will have certainty on electricity tariffs for industries,” he said in a telephone interview.

In early January, PLN announced that it would remove the cap to limit the price increase for industrial users following the introduction of new tariffs in June last year. The cap removal, which will result in an increase of the power tariff by between 2 and 12 percent, has drawn strong rejection from businesses.

Sofjan claimed the cap removal would kill tens of thousands of micro — and small-scale enterprises across the nation, therefore expecting PLN and the government not to raise the power tariffs this year.

“If the government and PLN want to increase power tariffs, they have to discuss the plan first with us,” he emphasized.

In the letter, Apindo says that Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh has ensured that PLN will not raise the tariffs for industries whatever the reason is and the company has to maintain the 18 percent cap.