TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - State power company PLN noted a 3.5-percent growth in 2017’s electricity consumption. The figure represents a deceleration when compared to 2016’s 6.49 percent consumption growth.
“We hope this year the rate will be better,” PLN president director Sofyan Basir told Tempo last week.
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In 2017, PLN sold 223 teraWatt-hours (tWh) of electricity, below the targeted 234 tWh set in the company’s power supply olan (RUPTL).
Sofyan said the weakening consumption was mainly due to factories not operating during the Eid holiday. PLN thus had to cut its supply by 13,500 MW.
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Sofyan said PLn had to shut down some power plants during 15 days of holidays.
Household consumers also lowered their power usage, as some of them installed solar-powered photovoltaic generators. PLN estimated that the use of this facility helped reduce electricity burden by 59,371 kWh.
This year, PLN is targeting its electricity sales to grow 6.1 percent to 236 tWH.
ROBBY IRFANY