PLN pooh-poohs Pertamina debt threat
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
State-owned power firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) played down a threat by state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina to cut off its fuel supplies until it paid its debts, saying PLN had never been behind with payments due and owing to Pertamina.
The power firm's president director, Eddie Widiono, said on Tuesday that it was nothing unusual for a company to have debts as long as it paid the installments on time.
"In our business it is normal to have debts, but we always make the due payments on time," Eddie told reporters after a closed-door hearing with the House of Representatives' mining and environment commission.
Eddie gave assurances that the PLN was not facing any shortages in fuel supplies for its power plants, saying the two companies would soon work things out.
"I assure you, we will settle things," he said, adding that the power company had received a number of invoices from Pertamina over the past months and would pay the installments that had become due and owing as soon as possible.
While admitting that he had received a letter from Pertamina regarding the sums owed, Eddie insisted that the outstanding amounts were less than the Rp 2 trillion (US$215.8 million) claimed by Pertamina.
"According to the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP), our debts are not that great," Eddie said, although he refused to say exactly how much they were according to PLN's reckoning.
During a hearing with the House on Monday, Pertamina threatened to cut off fuel supplies to PLN, saying the firm was late in making payments on Rp 2 trillion-worth of outstanding debt to Pertamina.
Pertamina supplies some 9 million kiloliters of oil annually to PLN to fuel more than 25 percent of its power plants.
PLN plans to issue some Rp 2.5 trillion in bonds and sell two of its subsidiaries -- PT Indonesia Power and PT Pembangkitan Jawa-Bali -- this year to generate fresh cash.
Besides PLN, Pertamina has also demanded that other state institutions, such as the Indonesian Military (TNI), pay their debts as the oil company struggles to get back into the black.