Faisal Basri Wants To Cry To See PLN's Debt, September The Electric Power Company Is Threatened With Collapsing

Indef's senior economist, Faisal Basri. (Photo by: Ministry of Communication and Information)

JAKARTA - PT PLN (Persero) is facing a tough year. The state-owned electricity company is awaiting the payment of debt from the government amounting to Rp45.42 trillion, which has yet to be paid.

For information, the debt comes from tariff compensation for two years because President Joko Widodo's (Jokowi) policy is not to raise electricity rates. Faisal Basri, senior economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (INDEF), said that this situation had put PLN on the line.

"I felt like I was going to cry when I talked with the President Director of PLN Zulkifli Zaini. He said that until now the arrears from the government had not been paid at all. As a result, if September 2020 has not been paid, PLN will collapse," said Faisal Basri in a webinar held by Brawijaya University. last weekend.

Not only government debt, PLN is also threatened with collapse due to debt of up to Rp. 500 trillion, due to the company's habit of seeking Rp. 100 trillion in loans every year for the past five years. The debt is to finance the 35,000 MW electricity project, which has been assigned by the government since 2015.

Chairman of Commission VI DPR RI, Aria Bima has also expressed his concern over the fate of PLN which has the potential to collapse. In a hearing with the President Director of PLN, Zulkifli Zaini last month, Aria asked Zulkifli about the impact on PLN if the government did not immediately pay off the Rp45.42 trillion debt.

Aria was worried because he heard the news that PLN would be threatened with bankruptcy in October 2020. Aria also asked about the truth of the collapse of PLN to the former Managing Director of Bank Mandiri.

At that time, there was an optimistic tone from Zulkifli who answered that the company could still run. Moreover, he said, the government promised to pay debts of IDR 45.42 trillion in July 2020.

The government's debt to PLN is worth IDR 45 trillion due to an additional IDR 3 trillion due to the government's policy of providing free electricity to 24 million 450 VA customers and a discount to 7 million 900 VA customers, where the funds are covered by the state-owned electricity company.

Zulkifli stated, in general, PLN's finances would be greatly helped by this Rp45.42 trillion fund. With the entry of these funds, said Zulkifli, PLN's operations would be safe so that operationally his party could still provide quality services to the public.