President Director Of PLN: Best 2021 Financial Performance In History

Illustration - Workers doing electrical infrastructure installation. (Photo: ANTARA)

JAKARTA - PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo revealed, PT PLN (Persero) managed to record the best performance in history in 2021 despite being constrained by the COVID-19 situation.

According to him, this achievement was achieved thanks to efficiency and innovation in various business lines through a transformation program that is in line with the SOE transformation movement since April 2020.

"PLN is carrying out a transformation that makes the company healthier, can move more agilely in carrying out the state's mandate to provide electricity services to customers and is able to respond more rapidly to various business opportunities. The impact is very positive on the company's performance," said Darmawan in an official statement, Tuesday 24 May.

Not only that, PLN has also succeeded in maintaining fair tariffs for the underprivileged, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) and Industry.

Darmawan added, the transformation succeeded in increasing electricity sales in 2021 by 5.08 percent compared to the previous year even though Indonesia was affected by an extraordinary pandemic which caused the economy to slow down.

Electricity growth which was higher than economic growth of 3.69 percent was proof of the success of innovation and efficiency, so that electricity sales increased by Rp. 13.96 trillion to Rp. 288.86 trillion.

"This shows that PLN is really getting healthier. The economy is growing, and electricity is able to grow higher. Economic growth is getting more quality, PLN is ready to support its electricity needs," said Darmawan.

Darmawan detailed, the number of subscribers increased from 79.0 million in 2020, to 82.5 million subscribers in 2021.

This is also in line with the increase in customer connected power from 143,159 Mega Volt Ampere (MVA) in 2020, to 151,985 MVA in 2021.

Throughout 2021, PLN succeeded in electrifying 491 remote villages that previously had no electricity.

This increases the electrification ratio from 99.2 percent in 2020 to 99.4 percent in 2021.

PLN has also presented the PLN Mobile application which consolidates all customer service business processes.

Throughout 2021, there will be an additional 14.5 million users of the PLN Mobile application, from the previous 1.7 million users in 2020 to 16.3 million users at the end of 2021.

Even until April 2022, the number of users of the application has reached 22 million users. The app now has a rating of 4.8 out of 5.

This is proof of the success of the PLN Mobile application as part of the transformation of PLN services.

This step was also followed by controlling the Basic Cost of Supply (BPP) electricity through operating cost efficiency, proactive loan management, business process consolidation and customer service improvement, as well as digitizing business processes starting from upstream to downstream including digitizing power generation, transmission and distribution as well as procurement. digitally based.

"With these steps, the electricity BPP has been reduced by Rp15/kWh, from Rp1,348/kWh in 2020 to Rp1,333/kWh in 2021," said Darmawan.

Darmawan asserted, all efforts on the operational side will not succeed if the control on the financial side is not carried out.

PLN has built a cash war room system, spend control tower and optimize investment management as well as carry out cost avoidance and cost reduction measures that are measured and closely monitored.

PLN has also succeeded in accelerating loan repayments by Rp52.48 trillion in the last 2 years, thereby significantly reducing loan outstanding.

"The steps we have taken are able to reduce the Company's financial pressure in 2021 so that the financial burden will decrease by IDR7.04 trillion or 25.7 percent compared to 2020," explained the President Director of PLN.

Thanks to the transformation carried out, PLN posted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in 2021 of IDR 89.17 trillion, an increase of 2.9 percent from 2020 EBITDA of IDR 86.69 trillion.

The increase in EBITDA is in line with the increase in profit, where in 2021 the company managed to record a net profit of IDR 13.17 trillion (audited), higher than the net profit in 2020 of IDR 5.99 trillion.

In 2022, PLN will experience more challenges, especially related to rising fuel prices, interest costs and exchange rate volatility as well as over supply conditions. In the last 2 years PLN has succeeded in rescheduling the entry of IPP from 2021 to 2022.

Of course this causes cash flow pressure for IPP payments due to take or pay (TOP).