PT PLN first half losses surge 12-fold
PT PLN first half losses surge 12-fold
JAKARTA (JP): Cash-strapped state electricity company PT
Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) announced on Thursday a
twelvefold increase in losses of up to Rp 11.58 trillion (US$1.4
billion) in the first half of the year, as compared to Rp 974
billion for the same period last year.
The January-June 2000 loss exceeds the annual net loss of Rp
11.3 trillion recorded last year.
A company balance sheet published in the local papers revealed
the first half loss occurred despite a rise in net revenue of 30
percent to Rp 10.11 trillion over the period, from Rp 7.75
trillion over the corresponding period of last year.
The company's operating costs surged to Rp 12.3 trillion in
the first six months of the year, from Rp 8.76 trillion for the
same period of last year.
The cost for the purchase of power surged four-fold to Rp 4.13
trillion in the first half of the year from Rp 1.07 trillion in
the same period of last year.
PLN buys power from independent power producers (IPP) at
average price of 5.5 U.S. cents or about Rp 453 per kilowatt hour
(KwH) but resells it to the public at an average of Rp 250.
Debt payment reached Rp 5.9 trillion in the first six months
of the year as against Rp 2.9 trillion in the same period of last
year.
The company suffered Rp 3.5 trillion in foreign exchange
losses during the first half of the year, as against a foreign
exchange gain of Rp 2.7 trillion for the corresponding period of
last year.
PLN has been hard hit by the three-year economic crisis as it
sells its power in rupiah but pays most of its costs, including
for power from IPPs and spare parts, in dollars.
The state company has signed power purchase agreements with 27
IPPs, which are all consortiums comprising of international
energy companies and businesses owned by former president
Soeharto's family members and friends.
Some of the private power projects have been on stream and
some others were suspended by the government in 1997 and 1998 as
part of the retrenchment measures to cope with the monetary
crisis.
Some IPPs, including MidAmerican Energy Holdings, formerly
known as CalEnergy, have sued PLN for its refusal to fulfill its
contractual obligations.
MidAmerican won a US$573 million-worth arbitration lawsuit
against PLN but the state company and the government as the major
shareholder have yet to pay the damages.
PLN is now seeking to re-negotiate its power purchase
contracts with the IPPs that have come on stream in a bid to
lower the price of their power.
The government allowed PLN to raise its power tariff by 34
percent in April this year to ease its financial burden. (jsk)