Panca Nugraha and Fadli, Mataram/Batam – More than 50 Mataram residents rallied outside the PLN building in West Nusa Tenggara on Thursday over the rotating blackouts imposed in the city in the last two months.
The protesters, mostly students, fishermen and other workers, called the state power firm "inconsiderate". "If we pay our bills late, they cut the power off. But when the company imposes blackouts, it gives us no prior notice," said a protester, Hasan.
The protesters urged PLN not to implement large-scale outages during the fasting month of Ramadhan. They complained of hours of blackouts, generally between 8 and 11 p.m.
"What if this happens during Ramadhan? How will we hear the sound of the bedug drum on the television, or the call to prayer? PLN has a responsibility to ensure there are no more blackouts," Hasan said. Implementing blackouts without prior notice also caused damage to electrical appliances, he said.
The general manager of PLN West Nusa Tenggara, Mustiko Bawono, and the GM of PLN Mataram Wasito Adi agreed to met with the protesters.
Wasito said the rotating outages were necessitated by the low supply of water used to generate power at its plant, which has a capacity of 80 megawatts. "Our power production capacity is very limited. If one of our generators is down, we have no choice but to order blackouts."
In Batam, Riau Islands province, more than 100 residents staged a protest outside the PLN building, demanding a complete rollback of the decision to raise power rates to Rp 1,400 per kilowatt-hour (Kwh) in the household category.
Basaruddin, representing the protesters, demanded to know why such high rates were being imposed in Nongsa fishing community.
PLN said it needed to raise its rates in order to finance the installation of power networks in the area, which it says will cost about Rp 638 million (US$67,157). He said Rp 1,400/Kwh was much higher than the fixed rate in the business category.
The protesters had been outside the PLN building since early morning, preventing customers from coming in to pay bills.
Ery Ifyandri, the head of PLN Batam, said the rates might not be raised if the Batam city administration approved an additional subsidy for electricity.