Massive black-out leaves Bali in total darkness

Niken Prathivi and Luh De Suriyani ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Mon, 06/01/2009 12:58 PM  |  Bali

A massive black-out on Sunday evening left the resort island of Bali in total darkness, surprising residents and irritating the tourism industry.

The outage started at around 18.00 and lasted for more than an hour. Power resumed at around 5 p.m. in Renon, the province's administrative center, only to drop again one hour later. Two hours after this outage, most of the island was still engulfed in darkness.

Residents of Denpasar, Badung, Tabanan, and Karangasem contacted by The Jakarta Post said the unscheduled outage really took them by surprise.

"How could the supply just break down all over the island like this," Ernawati, a housewife from Tabanan, said.

Spokesman for state power company PT PLN's Bali region, Agung Mastika, apologized for the black-out, explaining it was caused by a sudden surge of power consumption in Denpasar and Tabanan.

"There was also a disruption at power plants in Java that supply Bali with electricity," he said.

Agung said the disruption cut the supply by 200 megawatts, while Bali has a supply of 562 megawatts of electricity; the island's peak consumption is 480 megawatts.

"But the black-out didn't take place in hotels, airports and other critical places," he added.

However, hotels in Ubud, Kerobokan, Kuta, Sanur and Nusa Dua reported experiencing the black-out and having to turn on their own generators. A similar occurrence was reported by a passenger at the Ngurah Rai International Airport.

Perry Markus, secretary-general of the Bali chapter of the Indonesian Hotels and Restaurants Association (PHRI), said he was very disappointed by the black-out.

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