Darwin Saleh made the statement after attending a meeting on oil production at the Vice Presidential office here on Thursday. Therefore, a revocation of the capping needs an approval between the government and the House, he said.
The basic power rate for industries in force as of January 1, 2011, is based on the regulation of the energy and mineral resources ministry No 7 of 2010 on the rates of power provided by state electricity company PT PLN.
A number of industries has questioned the revocation of not more than 18 pct of capping as of January 1, 2011, which caused a raise in power rates.
An earlier capping had been revoked by PLN since October last year and now reapplied to industrial customers.
The limitation is maximized as some industries had objected the full rate increase, but more than 20 pct. But for 2011, the government allocated only a power subsidy of Rp40.7 trillion, smaller than last year`s Rp55.1 trillion.
Earlier, business players had asked the governmet to postpone the power price hike for industries until 2012 on the condition of an overall improvement in all sectors and a dialogue between the government and industries.
General Chairman of the Association of Indonesian Businesses (Apindo) Sofjan Wanandi said if the 18 percent capping is revoked the business players believed industries will lose their competitiveness on the international market, and also difficult to compete with foreign businessmen on the domestic market.
"We wish there would be no power price hike in 2011, otherwise industries will have problems. Firstly, most of the prices of raw materials will be sky rocketing, basic wages will be at a minimum in each province, and a great deal of commodities will enter under free trade," he said. (*)
Editor: Kunto Wibisono
Copyright © ANTARA 2011
