No Electricity Price Hike Plan In 2015

Jakarta, Sept 3 (Antara) - The Indonesian government currently has no plans to increase electricity tariff in 2015, reported a spokesman, Jarman, of the Energy and Mineral Resources here on Wednesday. "No plans have been made yet. Beginning from next January, we will apply the adjustment on six customer groups whose tariff will be increased this year," Jarman stated. The government will propose to the House of Representative to levy electricity tariff with automatic adjustment on 11 customer groups. According to the Energy and Mineral Resources minister`s Decree No. 9 year on 2014, the government has applied automatic electrical price adjustment to four non-subsidized customer groups on May 1, 2014. The four groups are large capacity household users (R3), with over 6,600 VA power; medium-sized business users (B2), 6600-200,000 VA; large-scaled business users (B3), above 200 kVA; and government offices (P1), 6600-200,000 VA. Jarman explained that the electricity tariff adjustment will be set every month with reference to exchange rate, oil price, and inflation. Non-subsidized electricity customers are no longer subsidized when the exchange rate and oil prices rise. "On the contrary, customers can have a tariff reduction if the exchange rate and oil prices are lower," he said. Jarman added that with the implementation of tariff adjustments, beginning January 2015, government will only provide subsidies for customers with 450 and 900 kVA electricity capacity, and also for the society, small businesses, and small industries.