PLN WILL GET ADDITIONAL FUNDING FROM GOVT FOR NEW POWER CONNECTIONS

Jakarta, June 17 (ANTARA) - It is quite possible for the government to provide state power firm PT PLN with extra funding for this fiscal year for the installation of new power connections.
"PLN has two options to cover its funding budget shortfall to meet applications for new power connections. The two options are still developed by the government," said Jacobus Purwono, Electricity and Energy Utilization Director General of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources said here Tuesday.

Under the first option, he added, the government will raise its funding allocation for PLN, which was normally accommodated in the 2009 revised State Budget.

Purwono said under this option, the extra subsidy could be allocated through the ministry of energy and mineral resources, and then channeled to PLN.

"But the additional subsidy will be disbursed following an audit by the Supreme Audit Board (BPK)", he said.

Purwono added that officially PLN has yet to submit some figures on the additional subsidy, but in an informal way, PLN had submitted two trillion rupiahs.

"Under the second option, PLN will be using the existing subsidy".

According to past experience, Purwono explained, following the BPK audit, there was always a power subsidy remainder of about five trillion rupiahs, and in this year such a remainder may also occur.

"This can be used for installing new power connections," he said.

PLN had recently been reported to raise the new connection cost without government approval, which is contradictory to the Law on Electricity no 15/1983, and Decree of the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources No 2038/2001 on the cost of new power connections.
Following objections from many circles, PLN has cancelled the increase, saying that in meeting applications for new power connections, the state power firm gets only one trillion rupiahs from the government, while actually three trillions are needed.