Since a spate of blackouts began in September, vendors of power generators in the city's largest trade center for the item have enjoyed roaring business.
Hundreds of electronic equipment stores in at the Lindeteves Trade Center in Glodok, West Jakarta, had a busy day Monday morning with workers carrying generators on their shoulders for buyers walking hurriedly through the center's narrow corridors.
Yunus, one of the buyers, said he needed a generator for his restaurant in Cipulir, West Jakarta.
"It's hard to run my business without using the refrigerator or the water pump," he said.
"If the blackouts occur at night, my customers have to eat in the dark.
"Nowadays the blackouts can occur three times a day in my area," he added, referring to the rolling power cuts implemented by state power company PT PLN.
Small businesses have suffered much due to the blackouts caused by damage at two of PLN's substations.
The Jakarta Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Kadin) says the city's more than 32,000 small and medium enterprises suffer monumental losses from the frequent scheduled power cuts.
"The impact *of the blackouts* is quite big," said Ranier Tobing, Kadin's deputy head for industry, energy and agriculture.
"In one day, the loss can reach around Rp 10 billion *US$1 million*."
Dhaniswara K. Harjono, head consultant at Kadin Jakarta, said many SMEs could not afford to buy generators to plug the power deficit.
While much of the city wilts due to the blackouts, generator vendors are earning big profits.
"I can sell more than 10 generators a day now, whereas before I only sold 10 generators a month," said vendor Siska.
"Every time there's a blackout, there's always great demand for generators. It was the same in July last year, when we had a spate of blackouts."
Siska, who has run her shop for 20 years, said most of the shops at the trade center sold low-capacity generators for home or small-scale businesses.
She added her store sold generators of three different capacities.
A 1-kilovolt ampere (kVA) generator retails for Rp 1.5 million to Rp 4 million ($150 to $400). A 5-kVA generator costs between Rp 5 million and Rp 15 million, while a 10-kVA generator costs from Rp 30 million to Rp 40 million.
Those not willing to shell out so much can always rent.
Dian, an employee at a generator rental company, said the demand from offices had more than tripled.
"My company usually rents about five generators a month, but last month we rented 18," she said.
Dian added the company even had to turn down some requests.
Her company rents out a 5-kVA generator for Rp 1.8 million a day (12 hours of use), and a 10-kVA generator for Rp 2.2 million a day.
Rian, a mechanic at the Lindeteves Trade Center, said more people were looking to get their old generators fixed. The shop where Rian works charges a minimum fee of Rp 75,000 to fix a generator.
"I used to only fix about five generators a day, but nowadays I'm doing 10 a day," he said.
He recommended using only 90 percent of a generator's capacity to prevent overloading, which could damage the generator.
He added the public should also think of ways to prevent their electronic equipment being damaged due to fluctuating currents.
"It's best to unplug all elec-trical equipment, especially air conditioners, refrigerators and computers, which are more easily damaged by fluctuation currents," he said. (mrs)
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