{
    "success": true,
    "data": {
        "id": 1405205,
        "msgid": "arbitration-agency-plns-best-option-1447893297",
        "date": "1998-04-02 00:00:00",
        "title": "Arbitration agency PLN's best option",
        "author": null,
        "source": "JP",
        "tags": null,
        "topic": null,
        "summary": "Arbitration agency PLN's best option JAKARTA (JP): State electricity company PLN should ask an international arbitration agency to settle its dispute with gas and power suppliers over payment, an analyst said yesterday. Energy analyst Iskandar Mandji said the move would be the best alternative for PLN, which has not been able to fully pay its gas and power suppliers following the rupiah's sharp depreciation against the dollar.",
        "content": "<p>Arbitration agency PLN's best option<\/p>\n<p>JAKARTA (JP): State electricity company PLN should ask an<br>\ninternational arbitration agency to settle its dispute with gas<br>\nand power suppliers over payment, an analyst said yesterday.<\/p>\n<p>Energy analyst Iskandar Mandji said the move would be the best<br>\nalternative for PLN, which has not been able to fully pay its gas<br>\nand power suppliers following the rupiah's sharp depreciation<br>\nagainst the dollar.<\/p>\n<p>\"PLN should declare itself in a force majeure situation and go<br>\nto an arbitration agency for a solution to its dispute with gas<br>\nand power contractors over payments,\" Mandji said.<\/p>\n<p>Force majeure refers to a situation in which a party cannot<br>\nfulfill a contract because of unexpected occurrences beyond its<br>\ncontrol.<\/p>\n<p>All purchasing contracts with gas and power suppliers are<br>\nbased in U.S. dollars. The sharp fall in the rupiah against the<br>\nU.S. dollar to 8,500 at present from 2,450 before the crisis has<br>\ncaused increases in gas and power prices in rupiah of more than<br>\n300 percent.<\/p>\n<p>The government extended a subsidy of Rp 1.25 trillion (US$156<br>\nmillion) to PLN to help it settle gas and power payments, but the<br>\nmoney was only enough to cover three months from January to March<br>\nthis year.<\/p>\n<p>The government has advised PLN to renegotiate payments with<br>\nits gas and power suppliers because it would not extend further<br>\nsubsidies to the company.<\/p>\n<p>PLN president Djiteng Marsudi recently said negotiations had<br>\nnot amounted to anything because PLN insisted on paying its<br>\ncontractors at an exchange rate of Rp 2,450 to the U.S. dollar.<\/p>\n<p>PLN has tried to increase its revenue amid the crisis by<br>\nraising electricity tariffs by 7.78 percent as from April<br>\npayments.<\/p>\n<p>A PLN spokesman said the company would continue applying the<br>\nnew tariffs despite the government's delay in increasing fuel<br>\nprices.<\/p>\n<p>PLN has also proposed an increase in the basis for raising<br>\nelectricity tariffs but the government has yet to approve the<br>\nproposal. (jsk)<\/p>",
        "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/arbitration-agency-plns-best-option-1447893297",
        "image": ""
    },
    "sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
    "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}