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Six provinces allowed special electricity rates
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Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said (left), Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) chairman Rosan Perkasa Roeslani (center) and Kadin's deputy chief of mineral resources Garibaldi Thohir hold a press conference at Kadin Tower on Thursday. (thejakartapost.com/Anton Hermansyah)
T
he government will allow six provinces covered by the Bright Indonesia program to talk exclusively with state electricity company PLN to decide on their own electricity rates, separate to nationally applied rates.
The six provinces are Papua, West Papua, Maluku, North Maluku, West Nusa Tenggara and East Nusa Tenggara, which are considered economically disadvantaged. Each provincial administration will create a joint regional electricity company along with PLN.
"It is a regionalization for PLN; each of the six companies will have a regional director. It has been proven that under such a scheme, local electricity rates are lower, like in Batam and Tarakan," Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Sudirman Said stated in Jakarta on Thursday.
In Batam, Riau Islands, and Tarakan, East Kalimantan, joint ventures owned by the local administration and PLN are managing electricity distribution, namely PT Pelayanan Listrik Nasional Batam and PT Pelayanan Listrik Nasional Tarakan.
They are part of the Bright Indonesia program, a government project to electrify remote villages and border areas using renewable resources to produce electricity. "The six provinces are our focus now. The government will create a task force headquartered in the eastern part of Indonesia," Sudirman said.
The government, he continued, had opened up the possibility for private companies to participate in Bright Indonesia, with certain incentives to ensure they did not take over PLN's role as stipulated by law.
"The subsidy will be given to the people, not to businessmen, so they can afford to pay electricity bills," Sudirman explained. (ags)
