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PLN eyes 5 million prepaid customers by 2012
State electricity utility PT PLN says it wants increase its number of prepaid electricity service customers across the country to 5 million by the end of 2012
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S
tate electricity utility PT PLN says it wants increase its number of prepaid electricity service customers across the country to 5 million by the end of 2012.
PLN business and risk management director Murtaqi Syamsudin said in Jakarta on Monday that PLN wanted to add around 500,000 more customers by December to bring its total number of prepaid users to 3 million for 2011.
“Next year, we target to attract 2 million customers. By the end of 2012, the number of prepaid electricity [customers] will be 5 million,” he told reporters at PLN’s office in Karawang, West Java, on Monday.
Most of the prepaid customers were new and the number of previous customers who converted from conventional to prepaid plans continued to grow, he said.
“This trend shows that the prepaid system has been accepted as a way of life for people in Indonesia,” Murtaqi said.
As of mid-August, PLN’s prepaid customer base was about 2.4 million, up almost 1.6 million from 885,000 in 2010, according to the company.
The greatest number of PLN’s prepaid customers were in West Java and Banten with about 1 million customers, followed by East Java with about 428,750 customers, Jakarta and Tangerang with 283,778 customers, and Central Java and Yogyakarta with 276,685 customers.
PLN previously attributed the prepaid program’s rapid acceptance to a system that allowed customers to more easily estimate their monthly electricity bills and the elimination of incorrect calculations under the conventional payment system.
Under the prepaid system, service stoppages are avoided by a meter that rings to warn customers that the kilowatt-hours of electricity they previously purchased have almost run out. The company provides prepaid refill vouchers with values ranging from Rp 30,000 (US$3.50) to Rp 1 million.
PLN is also working with three major banks — Bank Mandiri, Bank Central Asia and Bank Bukopin — to create a mobile banking system for conventional and prepaid customers to easily pay their bills.
“The online system through banks has covered all parts of the country. Previously, we planned to reach the target in 2012, but the system has covered the whole nation since mid-2011. With this system, a customer who lives in Nabire [Papua] can pay in Meulaboh [Aceh],” Murtaqi said .
PLN currently has 43 million customers nationwide. A mobile banking system would become a foundation for the development of the prepaid system, Murtaqi said, adding that prepaid customers outside Java could also use the service.
Murtaqi also said that PLN expected to reduce electricity production costs in 2011. Currently, the average cost is Rp 1,100 per kilowatt-hour and the company sells the electricity for an average of Rp 730 per kilowatt-hour.
