Perusahaan Listrik Negara
PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara is an Indonesian government-owned corporation which has a monopoly on electric power distribution in Indonesia. PLN generates the majority of the Indonesia's power, operating 46.8 GW of installed capacity and producing 184.6 TWh in 2024 by itself and 343.9 TWh including contributions from independent power producers. It was included in the Fortune Global 500 lists of 2014 and 2015. It has large debts due to expensive coal power contracts.
History
The history of the electricity sector in Indonesia began at the end of 19th century when the Dutch colonialists installed the first electricity generators. The largest of the electricity distribution companies was the Nederlands Indische Gasmaatschappij which was originally a gas utility company. In World War II, the Japanese seized control of the electricity sector. After Indonesia achieved independence on 17 August 1945, revolutionary Indonesian youth took control of the electricity sector and handed the facilities over to the republican government. The history of the electricity sector since then has been one of continuous institutional change.On 27 October 1945, President Sukarno established the Jawatan Listrik dan Gas with a generation capacity of 157.5 MW. On 1 January 1961, the bureau of Electricity and Gas was changed into BPU PLN which dealt in the areas of electricity, gas, and coke. On 1 January 1965, BPU-PLN was replaced with two state owned enterprises, Perusahaan Listrik Negara handling the electricity sector and Perusahaan Gas Negara handling gas. The combined capacity of PLN's electrical-power generators was then 300 MW. There were further institutional changes during the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
In September 2002, the Electric Power Act, was promulgated. The act formally deregulated the electricity sector. The new act required an end to PLN's monopoly on electricity distribution within five years after which private companies were to be permitted to sell electricity directly to consumers. All companies were to use PLN's existing transmission network. However, the act was annulled in 2004 by the Constitutional Court. As a result, the electricity sector was in an uncertain legal situation for some years. A new electricity law, Act No 30 of 2009, was introduced to provide greater legal certainty although this act, too, was controversial because, as was the case with the 2002 act, it legislated an end to PLN's monopoly.
Operations
In the first half of 2011, PLN generated 88 terawatt-hours. The firm generated around 24% of its output using oil-based fuel with plans to reduce the share to 3% by 2013 and 1.7% by 2014. The forecast for the full year is around 182 TWh.Capacity and organisation
At the end of 2015, PLN's total generating capacity was estimated at around 34,262 MW. Throughout 2016, PLN planned to boost its installed generation capacity by 1,932 MW.| Maximum capacity | Peak load | |
| Java-Bali | 21,257 | 16,150 |
| Western Indonesia | 4,602 | 4,299 |
| Eastern Indonesia | 2,603 | 2,484 |
| Total | 28,462 | 22,933 |
Main indicators have been increasing along with overall economic growth in Indonesia although the growth of revenue per unit sold has been slow:
| Employees | Capacity | Production | Sold | Output value | Average revenue | Average revenue | |
| Units | Number | MW | TWh | TWh | Rp trill | Rp/kWh | US cents/kWh |
| 2005 | 43,762 | 22,515 | 124.5 | 105.9 | 64.0 | 604 | 6.2 |
| 2006 | 43,048 | 24,846 | 131.7 | 112.6 | 74.9 | 665 | 7.4 |
| 2007 | 42,537 | 25,224 | 139.7 | 121.2 | 77.4 | 639 | 6.8 |
| 2008 | 42,715 | 25,594 | 148.0 | 129.0 | 86.4 | 670 | 6.1 |
| 2009 | 42,096 | 25,637 | 156.8 | 134.6 | 90.9 | 676 | 7.2 |
| 2010 | 43,638 | 26,895 | 176.0 | 149.0 | 103.0 | 700 | 8.0 |
| 2011 | 44,343 | 29,268 | 184.2 | 158.7 | 112.8 | 714 | 7.8 |
| 2012 | 50,287 | 32,901 | 200.3 | 174.0 | 126.7 | 728 | 7.5 |
| 2013 | 49,833 | 34,206 | 216.2 | 187.5 | 153.5 | 818 | 6.1 |
| 2014 | 46,068 | 37,226 | 228.6 | 198.6 | 186.6 | 940 | 7.5 |
| 2015 | 47,594 | 38,265 | 234.0 | 202.8 | 209.8 | 1,034 | 7.5 |
| 2016 | 51,158 | 39,785 | 248.6 | 216.0 | 214.1 | 991 | 7.3 |
| 2017 | 54,820 | 39,652 | 254.7 | 223.1 | 246.6 | 1,105 | 8.1 |
Source: Indonesian Statistics Bureau, Statistik Indonesia, Jakarta, and Statistik PLN, Jakarta.
| Growth | Capacity utilization | Capacity utilization | Labor productivity | Losses | |
| Units | % per year | kWh/MW | % | GWh/employee | % |
| 2005 | 4.5 | 5,530 | 63 | 2,845 | 15 |
| 2006 | 2.3 | 5,126 | 58 | 2,959 | 12 |
| 2007 | 11.8 | 5,647 | 64 | 3,349 | 15 |
| 2008 | 5.6 | 5,877 | 67 | 3,522 | 14 |
| 2009 | 4.2 | 6,116 | 70 | 3,725 | 14 |
| 2010 | 12.2 | 5,351 | 61 | 4,033 | 15 |
| 2011 | 4.7 | 5,218 | 59 | 4,153 | 14 |
| 2012 | 9.5 | 4,509 | 51 | 4,011 | 14 |
| 2013 | 7.9 | 6,321 | 72 | 4,338 | 13 |
| 2014 | 5.7 | 6,141 | 70 | 4,962 | 13 |
| 2015 | 2.4 | 6,115 | 70 | 4,289 | 13 |
| 2016 | 6.2 | 6,249 | 71 | 4,859 | 13 |
| 2017 | 2.5 | 6,423 | 73 | 4,646 | 12 |
Source: Calculated from previous table.
Growth = annual production growth. Capacity utilisation = kWh generated per kW of generation capacity ; calculations assume that there is 4,200 MW of generating capacity in the independent power producers which sell electricity to PLN. Labor productivity = Total GWh generated per employee in PLN. Losses = sales as a % of production.
The Indonesian Government, and the senior management of PLN, are officially committed to ongoing reforms designed to improve the efficiency of operations of the electricity supply sector in Indonesia. Performance indicators show some significant improvements in certain key measures in recent years. However, the overall reform process is often slow, hampered by the fact that the environment within which the state-owned PLN operates is closely regulated and often politicised.
Management
PLN is Indonesia's second-largest state company by assets. The top-level management, headed by the President Director, reports to a government-appointed board. The board and PLN management in turn report to the Minister of State-Owned Companies. President Directors of PLN since 1979 have been as follows:| Start | End | Name |
| 1979 | 1984 | Suryono |
| 1984 | 1988 | Sardjono |
| 1988 | 1992 | Ermamsyah Jamin |
| 1992 | 1995 | Zuhal |
| 1995 | 1998 | Djiteng Marsudi |
| 1998 | 2000 | Adi Satria |
| 2000 | 2001 | Kuntoro Mangkusubroto |
| 2001 | 2008 | Eddie Widiono |
| 2008 | 2009 | Fahmi Mochtar |
| 2009 | 2011 | Dahlan Iskan |
| 2011 | 2014 | Nur Pamudji |
| 2014 | 2019 | Sofyan Basir |
| 2019 | 2019 | Sripeni Inten Cahyani |
| 2019 | 2021 | Zulkifli Zaini |
| 2021 | on-going | Darmawan Prasodjo |
- Difficulties came to light in early 2011 over arrangements during the management period of the long-serving PLN President Director Eddie Widiono Suwondho. Questions arose over certain procurement procedures which he supported. He was taken in for questioning by Indonesia's Corruption Eradication Commission in March 2011. In December 2011 he was convicted to five years in prison for charges that centred on the appointment of a company to handle the provision of outsourced services for PLN.
- In mid 2019, Sofyan Basir was suspended as President Director following the decision of the Corruption Eradication Commission to indict him on a charge of corruption for his alleged role in graft relating to the construction of a power plant in the province of Riau.
- Sripeni Inten Cahyani was Acting CEO for the latter part of 2019 until Zulkifli Zaini was appointed President Director in late 2019.
Policies
- Use, for the first time, of liquefied natural gas as a fuel for some of PLN's generation plants
- Near-finalisation of the first 10,000 MW fast-track generation program announced some years earlier
- Registration of 5 million pre-paid customers into PLN distribution system.