PLN Electricity Charges from July 2023

Indonesian Electricity Charges 2023

Changes to How Electricity is Charged

Indonesian Electricity charges have increased considerably over the past few years. Considerable changes have been made with the progressive removal of subsidies, the removal of the abonement (a fixed charge before you used any electricity) and the removal of stamp duty. In addition prepaid "pulsa" meters have been introduced and minimum charges have also been introduced.

Introduction of Floating Prices

Some time ago the government removed the fixed price charged by the national petroleum company, Pertamina, for petrol and diesel fuel and they allowed the price to fluctuate according to the international price of oil which, as we know, has plummeted then slowly recovered over the past few years.

The National power company, PLN, have now followed Pertamina's lead and have linked the price of electricity to the floating price of oil and, as a result, the price of electricity is changing on a regular basis.

The cost of Electricity

To understand how much we pay we need to know a couple of things.

Our electricity connection allows us to use up to a certain "flow" of electricity which is determined by multiplying the voltage in volts (V) by the current in amps (A) giving us volt/amps (VA).

In Indonesia our power is supplied at 220 volts so if PLN install a master switch (the blue switch on the front of the meter) that allows us to have an electrical current of 25 amps then our power connection is 220 volts x 25 amps = 5,500 VA. This is our Tariff.

The electrical power we use is measured in watts (W) or in kilowatts (kW), a kilowatt is a thousand watts. Electrons are pretty small and counting them is a little time consuming so we calculate the amount of electricity used by multiplying the amount of electricity flowing in watts (W) by the time it is flowing in hours (h) giving us watt/hours (Wh). Our electricity bills are usually charged per kilowatt hour (kWh - a thousand watts flowing for an hour).

PLN Tariffs June 2023

For July 2023 the price of PLN electricity is as follows:

• For people on very low tariffs of 450 and 900 VA (Volt Amps) their electricity is subsidised* and they pay on a sliding scale.
• For people on domestic tariffs R1 (1,300 and 2,000 VA), R2 (3,300 to 5,500 VA) and R3 (6,600 VA and above) the price of electricity is Rp1,364.86 per kWh.
• For people on business tariff B1 (450 to 5,500 VA) the price has been fixed for the time being (it is not subject to monthly variations) at Rp 1,100 per kWh.
• For people on business tariff B2 (6,600 to 200,000 VA) the price is also Rp1,364.86 per kWh.

Minimum Charges

PLN have also introduced a regime of minimum charges for people using the old post paid electricity meters. People on the new prepaid "pulsa" meters do not have to pay a minimum charge. The minimum charge is dependant on the size of the connection and will vary as the price of electricity varies. It is worked out as follows:

If you have a prepaid "Pulsa" meter there is no minimum charge.

If your supply is 450 VA you will be charged a minimum of 18 kWh.
If your supply is 900 VA you will be charged a minimum of 36 kWh.
If your supply is 1,300 VA you will be charged a minimum of 52 kWh.
If your supply is 2,200 VA you will be charged a minimum of 88 kWh and so on.

Here are the minimum bills:

Minimum Bills For Residential Tariffs

What this minimum charge means, of course, is that if you increase the amount of power to your house then you will be paying a larger minimum bill if for some reason you use little or no electricity such as if you go away and leave the house empty.

Excess Peak Load Charge

You will note that on tariffs B3, I3, I4 and P2 there is a price for KVArh. This is "Baya kelebihan pemakalan daya reaktif"- a penalty charge for excessive power use. If you use more that 85% of your connected power (if you have a 300 kVA connection then anything over 255 kVA is excessive) you will be charged at this higher rate for the power used during the period of excessive use.

Peak and Off Peak pricing

For tariffs B3, I3, I4 and P2 the PLN price schedule allows for charging of electricity at different rates for "peak" and "off peak" periods. This is a common system used in many countries under which electricity is cheaper during "off peak" periods when not many people are using power (usually through the night or at weekends) and more expensive during peak periods.

In fact, in Indonesia  this system is not in use at the moment - the price of electricity is the same at all times of the day. On your bill these periods are marked WBP (Waktu Beban Puncak - peak load period) and LWBP (Luar Waktu Beban Puncak - outside peak load period)

Street Lighting Charge

Finally we are charged 5% extra on our bill for a street lighting charge.

Example

If we have a supply of 6,600 VA and we have used 500 kWh in the month of June (remember the price may vary from month to month). The minimum use for 6,600 VA is 264 kWh so our bill will be calculated as follows:

500 kWh @ Rp1,699.53     = Rp 849,765
Plus 5% lighting charge = Rp 42,488
Total = Rp 892,253

But if we had only used 150 kWh in the month of June our bill will be:

Minimum charge 264 kWh @ Rp1,699.53  = Rp 448,676
Plus 5% lighting charge = Rp 22,434
Total = Rp 471,110