Govt to Convert Biogas, Biomass Tariffs to US Dollar
19 June 2015 11:06 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta – The government plans to revise electricity feed-in tariffs from biogas and biomass power plants from the rupiah to the US dollar.
These feed-in tariffs are electricity sales tariffs set by biogas and biomass power plants company for state-owned electricity company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN).
Rida Mulyana, the director general for new renewable energy and energy conservation at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, said the change was done as investment in biogas power plants was usually calculated in the US dollar.
"The US dollar is the benchmark, but transactions will still use the rupiah to avoid violating Bank Indonesia’s regulations,” said Rida on Thursday.
Rida continued that feed-in tariffs would be regulated in the US dollar to dodge the bad impact of the rupiah’s fluctuating rate towards the US dollar.
The tariff revision was also aimed at tackling the effect of the rupiah's depreciation that erodes the income of biogas power plants.
Rida said biogas feed-in tariff was part of the plans to revise the electricity tariffs produced by alternative power plants. Other tariffs that will be revised are microhydro and urban waste power plants.
Rida added that development of alternative power plants was still hampered by unsuitable economic values. Therefore, incentives and disincentives will be prepared to promote alternative energy development.
BISNIS