The state electricity company has intentions to reduce prices for industry.

For some years industrial and commercial users of electricty supplied by PT PLN (Persero) faced special, "multi-use" charges, incurred whenever a user requested the addition of a new electricity line or supply, or an increase in voltage. These charges led to companies having to pay US 15 cents per kilowatt hour of energy while the international average is at around 7 cents per kWh, according to United States Energy Information Administration figures.

The special tariffs on multi-use had originally been put in place, it is said in Tempo, as a way of dealing with shortages in supply and lack of generation facilities, but on the 25th the Industries Minister, Fahmi Idris, said that PLN had agreed to a request from the director general of the Metal Industries department, Ansari Bukhari, to review the prices within one month after the end of Ramadan.

Fahmi was optimistic that PLN would abolish the multi-use tariffs in a timely manner because new facilities had already come on line, this meaning that the original reason for the introduction of the tariffs had become redundant. Fahmi went on to say that the multi-use charges added to the problems faced by industry and represented a brake on growth. Once abolished, he said, new projects which had been put on hold or cancelled would be realised, due to the fall in the price of electricity for business.

PLN spokesman Muljo Adji said that the matter was currently being debated. He said that PLN had no wish to burden industry with onerous charges but claimed that high charges were in place simply because demand was so strong.