Kuntoro imposes 'high' power price for Freeport<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Mines and Energy Kuntoro
\nMangkusubroto has set a price of 9 U.S. cents per kilowatt hour
\n(kwh) for power generated by PT Puncakjaya Power for mining
\ncompany PT Freeport Indonesia.<\/p>\n
Kuntoro set the price, higher than general industrial power
\nprices, in a letter dated April 29 addressed to Puncakjaya Power,
\na copy of which was made available to The Jakarta Post yesterday.<\/p>\n
\"The price is only applied for the power supplied by PT
\nPuncakjaya Power to PT Freeport Indonesia Company,\" Kuntoro wrote
\nin the letter.<\/p>\n
\"If there is a change in the power price in the future, a new
\ndecree will be made on the basis of the agreement between
\nPuncakjaya and Freeport.\"<\/p>\n
The price level is higher than the power price set by the
\nIndependent Power Producers (IPPs) for state electricity company
\nPLN, ranging between 5.74 cents and 8.4 cents per kwh.<\/p>\n
PLN has claimed the power prices are too high, and it has made
\nmoves to renegotiate with the IPPs on the prices.<\/p>\n
PLN has been severely battered by the economic crisis because
\nit gets revenue in rupiah but a considerable amount of its costs,
\nincluding the purchase of power from IPPs, is in U.S. dollars.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for Freeport expressed no qualms about the price
\nyesterday.<\/p>\n
\"The price was agreed upon by Freeport and Puncakjaya during
\nthe negotiation. The minister only approved our agreement,\" the
\ncompany's manager of public affairs, Edward Pressman, told the
\nPost.<\/p>\n
He said Puncakjaya was owned by a consortium led by Duke
\nEnergy of the U.S.<\/p>\n
The power company has supplied Freeport's base of Tembagapura,
\nIrian Jaya, with power from its 195 megawatt (MW) coal-fired
\npower plant at the port of Amamapare -- about 45 kilometers from
\nTembagapura -- since 1994.<\/p>\n
\"It is a remote area. Puncakjaya should pay a high power
\ngeneration cost,\" Pressman said, adding that the company obtained
\nits coal from Kalimantan.<\/p>\n
Freeport, an affiliate of the U.S. Freeport McMoran Copper and
\nGold, is the country's largest mining company, producing gold and
\ncopper. It has been operating in the country since the 1960s.
\n(jsk)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/kuntoro-imposes-high-power-price-for-freeport-1447893297",
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