ndonesia continues to grapple with power outages as rolling blackouts over the weekend disrupted household and commercial activities in parts of West Java, East Java, Yogyakarta and other areas connected to the Java-Madura-Bali grid.
The disruptions have been particularly challenging for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), many of which depend on uninterrupted electricity to operate.
“I suspect these conditions may continue for perhaps another two weeks,” Fabby Tumiwa, CEO of the Institute for Essential Services Reform (IESR), said in an interview with Kompas TV on Saturday, urging state-owned utility PLN to provide clearer information regarding scheduled outages, so that consumers could better prepare.
According to Fabby, outages lasting three to five hours have forced many businesses to suspend operations or rely on costly diesel generators.
In East Java, Agus Priambodo, deputy chairman of the Malang Market Traders Association (Hippama), told Detik that electricity outages on Saturday cut off power supply to markets, with some traders resorting to emergency lamps and flashlights to continue serving customers.
PLN president director Darmawan Prasodjo on Friday attributed the disruptions to technical problems at two large power plants owned and operated by independent power producers (IPPs), which were forced offline and temporarily disconnected from the Java electricity system.
Every Monday
“In these conditions, we are also facing technical challenges at two major power plants in Java owned by our partners,” Darmawan said during a press conference in Jakarta.
