Power Consumption Increases as Medium and Large Industries Grow

Several large and medium industries are starting to grow after being under pressure last year due to the global economic downturn. The Head of the Commercial Division of the state electricity company PLN, Benny Marbun, said that this is evident from the recent increase in the use of electricity.

Benny said that power consumption by medium and large industries continued to grow in the first four months of this year. "Cumulative sales from January to April 2016 amounted to 69.74 TWh," said Benny told Katadata, in Jakarta, Wednesday (18/5) (Read: PLN to Withdraw Subsidies from 18 Million Customers).

This indicates an 8.01 percent increase in power consumption over the same period last year. The medium industries have power connections of more than 200 kVA, and large industries have 30 MVA power connections.

Meanwhile, on a monthly basis, sales of electricity to the two industries last month amounted to 17.78 TWh, up 7.58 percent compared with April 2015 sales of 16.53 TWh. Increased power consumption shows that the medium and large industries are beginning to up production to keep pace with growing demand. (Read: Electricity Rates to Down Again in April).

More specifically, Benny said that the electricity sales to large industries (I-4 tariff) in April 2016 amounted to 1.13 TWh, up 10.66 percent compared with April 2015. Meanwhile,sales to medium industries (I-3 tariff) amounted to 4.09 TWh, up 5.82 percent compared with the same month last year.

Increased electricity consumption occurred in a number of industries such as chemicals, food and beverages, cement, metal, paper and pulp, gas, automotive, yarn, tires, ceramics, pharmaceuticals, plastics, and electronics. Benny claimed that the increase in sales was driven by the incentive offered by PLN in the form of 30 percent discount for industrial use at night (from 23:00 to 08:00).

"There was an increase of approximately 46 GWh in April 2016, which also means an increase in generating capacity utilisation at night of around 165 MW. We hope that this encouraging growth in electricity sales indicates a recovery in Indonesian economy," said Benny.  (Read: Small Businesses and Industries Get Discounted Electricity Tariff).

Previously, the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Darmin Nasution claimed that PLN had not implemented the third policy package, particularly the provision of discounted electricity tariffs at night. "We will discuss this matter again. It turns out that PLN refused (to implement the policy), so there is still a dispute,"

Benny Marbun, however, claimed that PLN had implemented all policies in the policy package, particularly those related to electricity incentives, since December 2015. "PLN always complies with policy decisions," Benny said. (Read: PLN Denies Ignoring Government Policies).