If PLN Doesn't Buy Electricity, Supply Will Be in Deficit

State-owned electricity company Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) is reportedly experiencing an oversupply, where the amount of electricity supplied exceeds the amount sold to consumers.

According to the Chairman of the DPR RI Budget Agency, Said Abdullah, this surplus will continue until next year and will increase the state's burden.

"If later EBT (Renewable Energy) enters, then in 2030 PLN will have a 41 gigawatt oversupply. Imagine if 1 gigawatt, because of the take-or-pay contract, has to pay Rp3 trillion, because per 1 gigawatt (the burden) is Rp3 trillion," said Said in a meeting discussing the 2023 State Budget at the DPR RI Building, Jakarta, Monday (12/9/2022).

Despite frequently experiencing oversupply, the electricity produced independently by PLN is actually always in deficit or lower than the amount of electricity sold to customers. This deficit is covered because PLN purchases electricity from other parties. Data on this can be seen in the PLN Statistics 2021 report.

In 2021, PLN recorded self-produced electricity of 182,970 GWh and purchased 106,490 GWh from external parties. Thus, PLN's total electricity supply last year reached 289,470 GWh.

Meanwhile, electricity sold to customers in 2021 was only 257,630 GWh. So at the end of last year, there was an excess supply of approximately 31,800 GWh.

This indicates that PLN's oversupply may not be due to low consumer absorption, but rather due to excessive electricity purchases from other parties.