Indonesia has been shocked by the sudden rise in electricity debt in the last month of April. As consumers were unsatisfied, PLN had clarified that the debt unit was not raised. But due to the pandemic months, PLN had stopped recording consumer meters from home. Because of this, the calculation for the electricity bill for March was charged by the average energy of the last 3 months.
In April recording of home meters had started again. And the actual energy of March was recorded in April. This is why many consumers started experiencing spikes of bills.
While my bill is probably rising, does that mean electricity demand is increasing?
Not necessarily, Based on the data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), electricity demand is decreasing by up to 25% since 40 days of lockdown implemented.
This due to the fact that many commercial buildings and offices do not operate on a normal basis. While many of us using our laptop and AC almost 24/7 in #workfromhome, the energy output is not as big as thousand of electronics and HVAC system in a building.
So what’s the impact of this?
For utility companies, this will provide a challenge due to the fact that a decreasing demand means a decrease in revenue. Utility company usually adjust their electricity price unit (Rp/kWh) in line with their production cost. While some plants like open-cycle gas turbines (OCGT), diesel work best underused. Others, which are bigger, such as coal must produce a bigger power for the sake of efficiency.
Not only that there will be some challenge to control the operational balance of voltage, frequency, and generation dispatch. The sudden “normal” changes in the operational hours in terms of human resources also impacting the maintenance and operations of plants. In the long run, these problems may create a domino effect on dispatch optimization.
For us, the consumer, there’s no significant impact because of this decreasing demand. Yet it might affect future policies regarding electricity bills. So, heads up for incoming tariff adjustment!