Anger grows over Indonesia’s power crisis

Companies operating in Indonesia have criticised the government over power cuts and Jakarta’s attempts to deal with them, including an edict forcing factories to move production to weekends from next week.

A series of potential blackouts are scheduled for this week and next in Jakarta and the nearby industrial zone of Tangerang. Decades of under-investment in energy infrastructure, coupled with soaring prices for coal, oil and gas have made blackouts a regular occurrence across the country and the government is scrambling to manage electricity demand before the first of 10 new power plants gets up and running in the middle of next year.

More than 400 Japanese companies jointly issued a formal complaint to the government this month about the frequent cuts to power supply and a lack of warnings from PLN, the state-owned electricity company.

The Indonesia Olefin & Plastic Industry Association is in talks with PLN over future supplies, warning that $1.5bn (£750m, €944m) in pending investments by members is in the balance.

“Power supply is becoming more and more of a problem and we are prepared to pay a higher rate to ensure the availability and reliability of electricity,” said Budi Susanto Sadiman, the association’s secretary-general.