Minister Wants PLN to Review Prepaid System
8 September 2015 14:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Coordinating Minister for Maritime and Resources, Rizal Ramli, asked state power company PT PLN (Persero) to review its prepaid system, also known as the token payment system.
Rizal said there is not enough token available in the market to meet customers' need for electricity. Moreover, the price is relatively expensive because as it includes administrative costs.
Rizal said consumers must pay a huge sum of money for the administrative cost. From a token that costs Rp100,000, a consumer only gets Rp73,000 worth of electricity supply.
"That's very cruel. There is a 27-percent charge taken by half-mafia providers," Rizal said, as quoted byAntara, yesterday.
Rizal is asking for the administrative cost to be cut to no more than Rp5,000.
Responding to Rizal's request, PLN president director Sofyan Basir said he would reexamine the application of electric token system, communicating with the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources in doing so.
The price of electricity tokens include three cost components, cost of administration by banks or vendors, street lighting tax (PPJ) and an electricity rate per kilowatt hour (kWh). Banks' administrative costs range from Rp2,000 to Rp3,000.
TEMPO