R

esidents of Mataram city and four regencies on Lombok Island in West Nusa Tenggara (NTB) province are voicing frustration over the rolling blackouts instituted by state-owned electricity company PT PLN that began last month.

Owners of small-and medium-scale businesses have expressed frustration over the loss of power, saying it negatively affected their businesses.

The NTB provincial administration invited a number of management officials from the NTB chapter of PT PLN to explain the blackouts. During the meeting, West Nusa Tenggara Governor M. Zainul Majdi urged the company to expedite coordination within the company to resolve the problem.

'€œWe have received many complaints from residents that have been conveyed to the provincial administration in person and through the text-message center regarding the rolling blackouts,'€ the administration secretariat'€™s assistant overseeing economy and development, Lalu Gita Aryadi, told reporters after the meeting on Thursday.

PLN has cut power in every district of Mataram, North Lombok, Central Lombok and East Lombok once a week for three-to-five hours since October.

Lalu said many residents were growing impatient with the blackouts'€™ long duration and high degree of frequency.

He said that according to complaints, residents in some areas also experienced blackouts during the day.

General manager of PT PLN'€™s NTB region, Andi Lakipadada, said that his company had imposed the blackouts because of repairs and maintenance being carried out on four diesel power plants (PLTD), including the 5 megawatt (MW) capacity PLTD Paok Motong in Timor regency and three others in Mataram city; PLTD Taman, which has a capacity of 4.5 MW, another plant with 4 MW capacity and the 4.5 MW capacity PLTD Ampenan.

Lacking an adequate electricity capacity, he said, the repairs affected service, especially during the peak hours between 6 p.m. and 2 a.m.

Andi added the company normally generated 190 MW of electricity during the peak hours and was currently experiencing a deficit of 18 MW. He said the energy load in the region could reach 185 MW.

'€œSuch a condition has forced us to apply rolling blackouts here,'€ Andi told reporters after the meeting.

'€œPLN apologizes for the inconvenience. We will try our best to finish the maintenance by the end of November,'€ Andi said.

He added that the prolonged drought had also decreased the supply of electricity from the company'€™s micro-hydro power plant (PLMTH).

Andi said PLN currently operated eight PLMTH spread throughout West, Central and North Lombok, producing some 6 MW of electricity. Due to the prolonged drought, he said, production had dipped to just 1.8 MW.