City electric bill cut by Rp 1.3b

City electric bill cut by Rp 1.3b

JAKARTA: The Jakarta administration will save Rp 1.3 billion,
or 14 percent, from its monthly electricity bills, as a result of
the current energy conservation drive.

"This figure is just an estimate ... based only on the number
of street lights being turned off at nights," head of the City
Illumination Agency, Pinondang Simanjuntak, said on Sunday.

The administration paid a Rp 111.4 billion electric bill to
the state power company PT PLN last year, he said.

Since July 14, following the Gubernatorial Instruction No.
77/2005 on energy conservation, the agency has turned off street
lights in many parts of the capital from 10 p.m. onward.

Only the lights along the main thoroughfares and particular
neighborhoods are still on at that time.

"We keep some areas alit to prevent crimes," Pinondang added.

He also said that PLN would install a power meter on 6,000
street lights to accurately measure the power usage of each.
Currently, he said, the company only approximated the usage based
on the voltage. -- Antara