PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) (, abbreviated as PLN) is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electric power distribution in Indonesia. PLN generates the majority of the Indonesia's power, operating 46.8 GW of installed capacity and producing 184.6 TWh in 2024 by itself and 343.9 TWh including contributions from independent power producers (IPPs). It was included in the Fortune Global 500 lists of 2014 and 2015. It has large debts due to expensive coal power contracts.
History The history of the electricity sector in Indonesia began at the end of 19th century when the Dutch colonialists installed the first electricity generators. The largest of the electricity distribution companies was the Nederlands Indische Gasmaatschappij (NIGM) which was originally a gas utility company. In World War II, the Japanese seized control of the electricity sector. After Indonesia achieved independence on 17 August 1945, revolutionary Indonesian youth took control of the electricity sector and handed the facilities over to the republican government. The history of the electricity sector since then has been one of continuous institutional change.
On 27 October 1945, President Sukarno established the Jawatan Listrik dan Gas (Bureau of Electricity And Gas) with a generation capacity of 157.5 MW. On 1 January 1961, the bureau of Electricity and Gas was changed into BPU PLN (''Badan Pimpinan Umum Perusahaan Listrik Negara, General Board of Directors for State Electricity Companies) which dealt in the areas of electricity, gas, and coke (). On 1 January 1965, BPU-PLN was replaced with two state owned enterprises, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) handling the electricity sector and Perusahaan Gas Negara (PGN) handling gas. The combined capacity of PLN's electrical-power generators was then 300 MW. There were further institutional changes during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
In September 2002, the Electric Power Act (Act No 20 of 2002), was promulgated. The act formally deregulated the electricity sector. The new act required an end to PLN's monopoly on electricity distribution within five years after which private companies (both foreign and domestic) were to be permitted to sell electricity directly to consumers. All companies were to use PLN's existing transmission network. However, the act was annulled in 2004 by the Constitutional Court. As a result, the electricity sector was in an uncertain legal situation for some years. A new electricity law, Act No 30 of 2009, was introduced to provide greater legal certainty although this act, too, was controversial because, as was the case with the 2002 act, it legislated an end to PLN's monopoly.Alfian, 'PLN labor union to challenge new law on electricity', The Jakarta Post, 20 January 2010.
Operations In the first half of 2011, PLN generated 88 terawatt-hours (TWh). The firm generated around 24% of its output using oil-based fuel with plans to reduce the share to 3% by 2013 and 1.7% by 2014.'PLN produces 88.2 TWh of electricity in first half, up 6.3%', The Jakarta Post, 25 July 2011. The forecast for the full year (2011) is around 182 TWh (equivalent to around 760 kWh per capita).
Capacity and organisation At the end of 2015, PLN's total generating capacity (produced by a many different plants across Indonesia) was estimated at around 34,262 MW. Throughout 2016, PLN planned to boost its installed generation capacity by 1,932 MW.
+ PLN: Capacity and peak load, end-2011 (megawatts) Maximum capacity Peak load Java-Bali21,25716,150 Western Indonesia4,6024,299 Eastern Indonesia2,6032,484 Total28,46222,933
Main indicators have been increasing along with overall economic growth in Indonesia although the growth of revenue per unit sold (Rp/kWh) has been slow:
+ PLN: Key statistics 2005-2017 Employees Capacity (a) Production (b) Sold Output value Average revenue (c) Average revenue (d) UnitsNumberMWTWhTWhRp trillRp/kWhUS cents/kWh 200543,76222,515124.5105.964.06046.2 200643,04824,846131.7112.674.96657.4 200742,53725,224139.7121.277.46396.8 200842,71525,594148.0129.086.46706.1 200942,09625,637156.8134.690.96767.2 201043,63826,895176.0149.0103.07008.0 201144,34329,268184.2158.7112.87147.8 201250,28732,901200.3174.0126.77287.5 201349,83334,206216.2187.5153.58186.1 201446,06837,226228.6198.6186.69407.5 201547,59438,265234.0202.8209.81,0347.5 201651,15839,785248.6216.0214.19917.3 201754,82039,652254.7223.1246.61,1058.1
Source: Indonesian Statistics Bureau, Statistik Indonesia (annual publication: various years), Jakarta, and Statistik PLN (annual publication; various years), Jakarta.
+ PLN: Performance indicators 2005-2017 Growth (Production) Capacity utilization (a) Capacity utilization (a) Labor productivity Losses Units% per yearkWh/MW%GWh/employee% 20054.55,530632,84515 20062.35,126582,95912 200711.85,647643,34915 20085.65,877673,52214 20094.26,116703,72514 201012.25,351614,03315 20114.75,218594,15314 20129.54,509514,01114 20137.96,321724,33813 20145.76,141704,96213 20152.46,115704,28913 20166.26,249714,85913 20172.56,423734,64612
Source: Calculated from previous table. Growth = annual production growth. Capacity utilisation = kWh generated per kW of generation capacity (theoretical maximum load at 100% capacity = 8,760); calculations assume that there is 4,200 MW of generating capacity in the independent power producers which sell electricity to PLN. Labor productivity = Total GWh generated per employee in PLN. Losses = sales as a % of production.
The Indonesian Government, and the senior management of PLN, are officially committed to ongoing reforms designed to improve the efficiency of operations of the electricity supply sector in Indonesia. Performance indicators show some significant improvements in certain key measures in recent years (see previous table on Performance indicators). However, the overall reform process is often slow, hampered by the fact that the environment within which the state-owned PLN operates is closely regulated and often politicised.Bruce Gale, ', The Jakarta Globe, 9 December 2011.
Management PLN is Indonesia's second-largest state company by assets.The largest state-owned company in Indonesia by assets is the government-owned bank Bank Mandiri. The top-level management, headed by the President Director, reports to a government-appointed board. The board and PLN management in turn report to the Minister of State-Owned Companies. President Directors of PLN since 1979 have been as follows:
Start End Name 1979 1984 Suryono 1984 1988 Sardjono 1988 1992 Ermamsyah Jamin 1992 1995 Zuhal 1995 1998 Djiteng Marsudi 1998 2000 Adi Satria 2000 2001 Kuntoro Mangkusubroto 2001 2008 Eddie Widiono 2008 2009 Fahmi Mochtar 2009 2011 Dahlan Iskan 2011 2014 Nur Pamudji 2014 2019 Sofyan BasirSofyan Basir was appointed by the incoming Joko Widodo administration in December 2014. He had a financial background, having been appointed from outside of the electric power industry; formerly he was president-director of the large state-owned bank Bank Rakyat Indonesia. See 'New PLN boss more impelled to increase revenue', The Jakarta Post, 23 December 2014. 2019 2019 Sripeni Inten Cahyani (acting CEO) 2019 2021 Zulkifli Zaini 2021 on-goingDarmawan Prasodjo
Difficulties came to light in early 2011 over arrangements during the management period of the long-serving (2001-2008) PLN President Director Eddie Widiono Suwondho. Questions arose over certain procurement procedures which he supported. He was taken in for questioning by Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission in March 2011.'KPK detains former PLN president' , The Jakarta Post, 24 March 2011. In December 2011 he was convicted to five years in prison for charges that centred on the appointment of a company to handle the provision of outsourced services for PLN.'More SOE bosses in jail raises concerns', The Jakarta Post, 22 December 2011. In mid 2019, Sofyan Basir was suspended as President Director following the decision of the Corruption Eradication Commission to indict him on a charge of corruption for his alleged role in graft relating to the construction of a power plant in the province of Riau.Kharishar Kahri, 'KPK indicts PLN's Sofyan Basir in Riau-1 power plant case for facilitating "bribery"', The Jakarta Post, 24 June 2019. Sripeni Inten Cahyani was Acting CEO for the latter part of 2019 until Zulkifli Zaini was appointed President Director in late 2019.
Policies In late 2011, the new President Director of PLN, Nur Pamudji listed three milestones for PLN as targets for 2012:Nur Pamudji was installed in late 2011 following the appointment of the previous president director, Dahlan Iskan, as Minister for State-owned enterprises.
Use, for the first time, of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a fuel for some of PLN's generation plants Near-finalisation of the first 10,000 MW fast-track generation program announced some years earlier Registration of 5 million pre-paid customers into PLN distribution system.
Service The reliability and quality of electricity supply has steadily improved in Indonesia in recent decades. Supply is more reliable in Java because the grid is relatively well-developed compared to the situation in the Outer Islands (such as Sumatra, Sulawesi and Kalimantan) where most areas are serviced by localised systems often powered by small diesel plants. However power outages are still common,Hrvoje Hranjski, 'Electricity: Power failure hits S. Kalimantan, residents told to be patient', The Jakarta Post, 16 October 2012. even in Java . There was, for example, a particularly severe power outage in 2005 which reportedly affected around 100 million people across Java and Bali for over five hours.
Finances PLN has—and has had, for many years—considerable trouble with internal revenue flows. For one thing, government-regulated tariffs are often too low to cover operational costs and have not been set at a level sufficient to make a reasonable contribution towards capital costs for many years.'Government allays fears of power, fuel price hikes' , The Jakarta Post, 3 November 1999. Another challenge is that there is widespread consumer resistance to payment of electricity bills and price hikes. The company's cash flow is often weighed down with overdue debts from consumers.
As just one example, in the Banyumas district (kabupaten) of Central Java in late 2011, it was reported that 60 percent (over 80,000) of PLN's 140,000 customers in the area were overdue with payments for their electricity bills causing the company over $300,000 in losses each month. Of the customers in arrears, 13,000 were considered very bad customers and were targeted for disconnection. But PLN's efforts to improve debt collection, both in Banyumas and in many other areas of Indonesia, often meet with considerable consumer resistance. In Banyumas, consumers complained that PLN's efforts to improve debt collection were unfair and failed to reflect the social obligations expected of state-owned enterprises.Argus Maryono, 'Electricity No power for bad payers: PLN', The Jakarta Post, 26 November 2011.