REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The National power utility company PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) suffered a net loss of Rp27.4 trillion in the third quarter of 2015, up from Rp10.5 trillion in the previous quarter.

Corporate Communications chief Bambang Dwiyanto attributed the loss mainly to foreign exchange loss of Rp45.7 trillion as a result of the falling value of rupiah from the level of 12,440 per US dollar on December 31 last year to 14,657 on Sept. 30 , 2015.

Bambang said in the third quarter of 2015, PLN's sales of electricity rose 15.56 percent or Rp20.7 trillion to Rp153.9 trillion in the third quarter of 2015 from Rp133.3 trillion in the same period in 2014.

The number of PLN's customers reached 60.3 million by the end of the third quarter of 2015, up 13.78 percent from 56.5 million a year earlier.

The electrification ratio, therefore, rose from 82.9 percent in September 2014 to 87.3 percent in September 2015.

In the third quarter of 2015, subsidy in electricity dropped Rp37.28 trillion to Rp45.9 trillion from Rp83.35 trillion a year earlier.

Bambang said despite an increase in the volume of sales, PLN's operating cost dropped Rp13.3 trillion or 7.45 percent to Rp164.7 trillion from Rp177.9 trillion in the same period in 2014.

The decline was attributable to substitution of oil fuel (BBM) with coal and a decline in the price of primary energy.

"The greater efficiency was recorded in the BBM cost that declined Rp28.46 trillion to Rp27.4 trillion in the third quarter or a 50.93 percent fall from Rp55.9 trillion a year earlier," Bambang said.

The operating profit of the company, therefore, totaled Rp41.8 trillion in the third quarter or down Rp1.6 trillion or 3.63 percent from the same period in 2014. 

Ikuti Whatsapp Channel Republika