ASEAN Cross-Border Electricity Not Yet Realised, Bahlil: Pricing Is Not Yet Win-Win

The Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Bahlil Lahadalia, has revealed that the ASEAN Power Grid cooperation, which enables electricity interconnection and trade between ASEAN nations, has not yet fully been realised. This is due to the electricity pricing scheme, which is deemed not to provide fair benefits for all parties involved.

According to Bahlil, the government is still conducting discussions regarding the cooperation scheme. Furthermore, the Malaysian Energy Minister has communicated with him regarding efforts to push for the realisation of the ASEAN Power Grid.

“Yesterday, the Energy Minister from Malaysia also spoke with me about how we can implement the ASEAN power grid, which was one of our commitments at the ASEAN Summit in Manila,” said Bahlil during the MKI Electricity Connect 2026 event on Tuesday (22/09/2026).

However, he admitted that Indonesia has not yet signed the agreement because the existing cooperation scheme does not yet meet the principle of mutual benefit.

“It is said that only Indonesia has not signed yet, and that is true; I have not signed because, in my calculation, it is not yet win-win. Once it is win-win, I will sign,” he stated.

Bahlil emphasised that the win-win principle in electricity trade cooperation must provide proportional benefits to all involved countries. In his view, cooperation cannot be described as mutually beneficial if the distribution of benefits is unfair.

“Win-win means profit for you and profit for us. And that profit must be fair. It is not win-win if you gain 70% and we gain 30%; that is not win-win, that is unfair. We live in an era of transparency; there is no need for deceptive tactics. Let us just be fair,” he concluded.