Thanks to customers' efforts to lower their electricity consumption, state electricity company PT PLN was able to reduce the length of planned power cuts, leading to a disruption-free first day of blackouts.

"No traffic lights are out of order because of blackouts and streets are the same as on any other Friday," First Brig. Witradi of the Jakarta Police Traffic Management Center said Friday.

PLN Jakarta and Tangerang distribution manager Widodo Budi Nugroho said the firm had changed its blackout plan, rearranging scheduled times and affected areas, after several customers, including factories, malls and office buildings, reduced their consumption.

"We applied the rotating blackouts only between 8 a.m. and 10 a.m. today (Friday) and only in a few areas because many of our big consumers managed to lower their consumption," he said.

"In the end, we needed to cut our supply by only 20 megawatts, compared with the 150 MW initially planned."

Budi said customers in 23 different service areas managed to save a total of 110 MW.

"We were able to maintain the remaining electricity supply with our power plants," he said.

The changes mean Jakarta residents will have no blackouts on Saturdays and Sundays.

Under the original two-week blackout program, power cuts were scheduled from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.

"We may only need another two hours of blackouts during weekdays if our consumers are able to maintain their consumption levels as they are now," Budi said.

Chief executive officer of upscale mall Senayan City in South Jakarta, Handaka Santoso, said he had ordered air-conditioning temperatures in the mall to be changed to 25 degrees Celsius.

"We also reduced the number of places with lights on as part of the Indonesian Shopping Center Association members' commitment," he said Friday.

The blackouts, originally scheduled to affect dozens of service areas in Jakarta and Tangerang, were expected to disrupt traffic lights, potentially leading to traffic chaos.

PLN was forced to schedule the rotating blackouts because the gas supply to two of its power stations -- a 900 MW plant in Tanjung Priok and a 750 MW plant in Muara Karang, both in North Jakarta -- will be suspended, PLN Jakarta distribution manager Widodo Budi Nugroho said last week.

The two power stations receive their gas from multinational energy giant BP, which will suspend gas supplies for two weeks for routine maintenance of its central flow station located off West Java. The maintenance includes the installation of a low-pressure flare tip.

PLN Jakarta and Tangerang distribution general manager Purnomo Willy earlier said PLN had to replace gas with fuel to operate the two plants "but they generate 150 MW less than the required amount".

Customers affected by the power cuts will get a 10 percent discount on their July bills as compensation, he said.

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