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PLN estimates revenues to slip 15 percent below target as demand plunges
PLN will lose Rp 2.8 trillion in revenues for every 1 percent drop in electricity demand, said the company’s president director.
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The 5MW Sambelia power plant on Lombok island, West Nusa Tenggara. (PLN/PLN)
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ndonesia’s sole electricity distributor, state-owned PLN, expects its revenues to fall about 15 percent below expectations this year amid weakening demand, particularly in the country’s industrial heartland of Java, but also on other islands.
PLN president director Zulkifli Zaini said on Wednesday that the company expected demand to decline by 9.7 percent from the initial target, as emergency measures imposed by the government to halt the spread of COVID-19 had paralyzed many business activities, such as hotel and retail industries.
With such a decline, PLN’s revenues are expected to reach Rp 257 trillion (US$16.47 billion) this year, 14.7 percent below the initial target of Rp 301 trillion, he said.
“Each 1 percent fall in electricity demand means PLN’s revenue falls Rp 2.8 trillion, as a rule of thumb,” he told House of Representative members via video conference.
He added that PLN had Rp 35 trillion in loans due this year. The company was in talks with banks to extend the maturity of the loans to next year.
PLN’s revision follows that of national oil giant Pertamina and gas distributor PGN. All three national companies’ sales have been hit hard by the shutdown of businesses and industries, most of which are located on Java island.
Java island is also Indonesia's epicenter for COVID-19, accounting for over 80 percent of nationwide deaths. Many cities on the island, such as Jakarta, its surrounding areas and Bandung in West Java, have imposed partial lockdowns to curb the spread of the disease.
