Bahlil Reveals Prabowo's Directives to PLN on Java Island Power Outages
President Prabowo Subianto summoned the Board of Directors of PLN (Persero) and the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Bahlil Lahadalia, to discuss the rolling electricity blackouts that have occurred in several regions recently. Bahlil stated that the government, alongside PT PLN (Persero), has conducted an evaluation of several factors affecting electricity stability.
“Our total annual coal consumption for PLN is 154 million tonnes. Meanwhile, the assignment from the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources to companies to serve PLN is around 180-190 million tonnes, of which PLN has contracted 134 million tonnes,” Bahlil told reporters at the Presidential Palace complex, Jakarta, on Monday (21/06/2026).
“In terms of the contract between PLN and entrepreneurs, 134 million tonnes for one year should present no issues by June. However, what PLN is complaining about, or what PLN is requesting, is the availability of medium-calorie coal for blending,” he continued.
Bahlins stated that the government has taken steps to assist PLN so that electricity services to the public can function effectively. Bahlil also announced that the government has formed a coal procurement team to ensure similar problems do not recur.
“We have ensured that there are no longer any issues, and the government has assisted PLN in its operations. However, beyond that, we have requested PLN to immediately carry out maintenance to truly provide service certainty to the community,” said Bahlil.
“From a regulatory perspective, we believe that if this is not supervised, we do not want this to continue. Therefore, I have formed a team; the procurement team consists of members from PLN, the Directorate General of Coal, the BPKP (Financial and Accountability Agency), and the Inspector General,” he added.
Bahlil noted that President Prabowo has instructed relevant ministries to immediately take measured steps to ensure that electricity services to the public remain optimal.
“President Prabowo’s instruction to us is to immediately ensure that measured steps are taken to accelerate progress so that such incidents do not happen again,” said Bahlil.
The meeting reaffirmed Prabowo’s commitment to accelerating industrial downstreaming, strengthening national energy security, and ensuring that all citizens receive reliable electricity services as a foundation for Indonesia’s sustainable economic growth and industrialisation.