Bahlil Guarantees No More Power Cuts

Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Minister Bahlil Lahadalia has assured that there are no plans for future power cuts. “God willing, no,” Bahlil told reporters at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs office in Jakarta on Thursday. Bahlil, together with Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs Airlangga Hartarto, discussed strategies to ensure electricity services to the public run optimally. One of the discussions concerned the compensation and subsidy payment scheme for PT PLN (Persero) so that the company has adequate financial capacity to supply electricity. “So, in general, it has been discussed, there are no problems,” he added. He also explained that PLN’s total coal requirement reaches 154 million metric tonnes per year. To date, PLN has secured contracts worth 134 million tonnes, leaving a shortfall of only around 20 million tonnes. The ESDM Minister has also formed a procurement team for medium-calorie coal to overcome PLN’s constraints in meeting the needs of its power plants. “In order to supervise primary energy so this does not continue, we formed a procurement team. PLN, the Directorate General of Minerals and Coal, and the BPKP,” Bahlil said during a Working Meeting with Commission XII of the Indonesian House of Representatives at the Parliament Complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday, 15 June 2026. According to Bahlil, PLN is constrained in meeting the need for medium-calorie coal because the selling price to PLN is low. Companies sell coal to PLN with reference to the domestic market obligation (DMO) price of 70 US dollars per tonne. Meanwhile, the reference coal price (HBA) for the first period of June 2026 was set at 121.83 US dollars per tonne. Regarding this issue, Bahlil has received orders from President Prabowo Subianto to coordinate with PLN, the Directorate General of Minerals and Coal (Ditjen Minerba) of the ESDM Ministry, and the BPKP regarding the fulfilment of PLN’s coal needs. “This (the formation of the team) is so there is no deceit among us. We are tired of talking one way here, another way there, writing one thing, reading another, doing something else. I know there is something, but enough. We understand each other, the important thing is we provide the best service for the country,” Bahlil said.