PLN Electricity Charges from June 2016

Indonesian Electricity Charges 2016

Here we look at the 2016 price of electricity in Indonesia, the rate of charging for residential, commercial, business and industrial tariffs, we also look at minimum charges, peak loads, lighting charge and how your bill is calculated.

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 2016

For June 2016 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.

Tariff	Power connected VA	Cost per kWh	Notes
Domestic Tariffs
R1	450 VA	0-30 kWh - Rp169 30-60 kWh - Rp360 > 60 kWh - Rp405	Residential Tariff Sliding scale No minimum bill
R1	900 VA	0-30 kWh - Rp169 30-60 kWh - Rp360 > 60 kWh - Rp600	Residential Tariff Sliding scale No minimum bill
R1	1,300 VA to 2,200 VA	Rp1,364.86	Residential Tariff Minimum bill applies
R2	3,500 VA to 5,500 VA	Rp1,364.86	Residential Tariff Minimum bill applies
R3	6,600 VA and above	Rp1,364.86	Residential Tariff Minimum bill applies
Business and Industrial Tariffs
B1	450 VA to 5,500 VA	Rp1,100	Business Tariff This price is fixed
B2	6,600 VA to 200 kVA	Rp1,364.86	Business Tariff Minimum Bill Applies
B3	Above 200 kVA K x	Rp975.49 kVarh Rp1,049.85	Business Tariff Penalty for excessive peak loading
I3	Above 200 kVA K x	Rp975.49 kVarh Rp 1,049.85	Industrial Tariff Penalty for excessive peak loading
I4	30,000 kVA and above	Rp939.85 kVarh Rp939.85	Industrial Tariff
Government Tariffs
P1	6.600 va - 200 kVA	Rp1,364.86
P2	Above 200 kVA	Rp975.49 kVarh Rp 1,049.85	Penalty for excessive peak loading
P3		Rp1,364.86
L		Rp1,542.63

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 your supply is 450 or 900 VA there is no minimum charge.
If you have prepaid "Pulsa" meter there is no minimum charge.

If your supply is 1,300 VA you will be charged a minimum of 52 kWh ie. 52 x 1,364.86 = Rp 70,973 in June 2016. 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

Power Connected	Minimum Use Charged	Cost of Minimum kWh	Plus Lighting Charge	Minimum Bill
450VA				Rp0
900VA				Rp0
1,300VA	52kWh	Rp70.973	Rp3,459	Rp74,528
2,200VA	88kWh	Rp120,108	Rp6,005	Rp126,113
3,300VA	140kWh	Rp191,080	Rp9,554	Rp200,634
4,400VA	176kWh	Rp240,215	Rp12,011	Rp252,226
5,500VA	220kWh	Rp300,269	Rp15,013	Rp315,283
6,600VA	264kWh	Rp360,312	Rp18,016	Rp378,328
7,700VA	308kWh	Rp420,377	21,019	Rp441,396
10,600VA	424kWh	Rp578,701	Rp28,934	Rp607,618
13,200VA	528kWh	Rp720,646	Rp36,032	Rp756,678
16,500VA	660kWh	Rp900,808	Rp45,040	Rp945,848
23,000VA	920kWh	Rp1,255,671	Rp62,784	Rp1,318,455
33,000VA	1,320kWh	Rp1,801,615	Rp90,081	Rp1,891,695

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 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 @ Rp1,364.86 = Rp 682,430
Plus 5% lighting charge = Rp 34,121
Total = Rp 716,551

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

Minimum charge 264 kWh @ Rp1,364.86 = Rp 360,323
Plus 5% lighting charge = Rp 18,016
Total = Rp 378,248