Mustaqim Adamrah, Jakarta – President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono blamed Tuesday the state utility firm PT PLN monopoly for the power shortages across the archipelago.
"It is wrong if PLN is not able (to meet the huge power demand)," the President said at the State Palace before a meeting to discuss the national power shortages.
"PLN wants to do everything alone. Give others a chance with the right regulations and policies. I also want that PLN turns into a great company, (with business) involving trillions of rupiah. "(But PLN) has to show good management," he said.
Yudhoyono had a meeting Tuesday with PLN president director Fahmi Mochtar, Coordinating Minister for the Economy Hatta Radjasa, State Secretary Sudi Silalahi, State Minister for State Enterprises Mustafa Abubakar, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh and Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo on power issues.
For decades PLN had a secure position as the sole power provider to the national grid. The newly enacted Electricity Law, enabling the private sector or independent power producers to enter the power business, has challenged PLN's position.
PLN has been under fire for the blackouts especially following the Cawang explosion in September.
Hatta said the government's new 10,000 megawatt electricity crash program would address the power shortages, adding that to put an end to the shortages alone it needed Rp 30 trillion (US$3.18 billion). "Of the Rp 30 trillion, Rp 5.6 trillion is allocated to address (power) problems in Jakarta," Hatta told reporters.
Fahmi said that to help find short-term solutions to the blackouts, PLN would install new equipment. "For example, there will be additional transformers in Cawang, Gandul, Kembangan and in Balaraja in Greater Jakarta," he said.
"The funding will come from PLN, export loans and other financing sources. The Finance Minister has approved the export loans."
Fahmi said short-term measures would be finished by 2010 and 2011.
Meanwhile to minimize blackouts in the capital city, PLN has sourced power from the substations in Gandul in Jakarta and from the surrounding areas of Depok and Bekasi. PLN had also bought excess power from Cikarang Listrindo and Bekasi Power, Fahmi said.
"We have fixed several things. The transformer is already in place. We've also repaired a 500-kilovolt GIL (gas insulated line) device in France and now it is already in Cawang," he said.
"The (overall) repair has reached 74 percent and will be completed on Dec. 19. But we'll finish it faster, in the first or second week of December," he said.
According to Sudi, another measure taken was that the President would issue an instruction mandating government offices to minimize power use.
Fauzi also said he would call on big power consumers, like manufacturers, shopping centers and office buildings, to also help minimize blackouts in Jakarta through energy conservation and power saving.