PLN Successfully Presses Take Or Pay Schemeloads Of Up To IDR 47.5 Trillion

Illustration of Electricity (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - PT PLN (Persero) managed to reduce the burden of the take or pay (TOP) scheme to Independent Power Producers (IPP) by IDR 47.5 trillion. This amount is an accumulation until 2023 where until the end of 2021 PLN was recorded to have succeeded in suppressing TOP by 37.21 trillion.

"In 2022 efforts will continue to be made so that the additional TOP that has been successfully suppressed is IDR 9.83 trillion and the total TOP that has been successfully suppressed is IDR 47.5 trillion", Darmawan said in a Hearing Meeting with Commission VI of the Indonesian House of Representatives in Jakarta, Wednesday, February 15.

Darmawan said this scheme was successfully suppressed by renegotiating with IPP to postpone the schedule for its generating operation.

Darmawan further explained that during the last 12 months his party had faced oversupply conditions on the island of Java because there was an increase in the electricity capacity of 7 Giga watts (GW), while the addition of electricity demand only grew by 1.2 to 1.3 GW.

Regarding the oversupply condition, previously Darmawan explained that the electricity system in Java and Bali until 2019 was still within the ideal criteria with a reserve margin of 32 percent.

"The Java-Bali system until 2019, the balance between supply and demand is still within the criteria," he said in a Hearing Meeting with Commission VII quoted on Thursday, February 9.

Darmawan continued, this situation began to change during the Covid 19 pandemic in 2020 which caused electricity demand to decline drastically. It is known that the reserve margin in 2020 is 39.9 percent and decreases to 37 percent in 2021.

At the same time, PLN must also face oversupply because Steam Power Plants (PLTU) are also starting to operate.

"We have to deal with a decrease in demand due to COVID-19 while the 35 GW outbreak has also started operating," Darmawan continued.