House Member: Government Guarantees Coal Supply, PLN Must Evaluate Contract Management

A member of Commission XII of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Jamaludin Malik, has urged PT PLN (Persero) to immediately overhaul its contract management, distribution, and coal logistics to ensure the reliability of the national electricity supply. He stated that the government, through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, has performed its duties optimally by guaranteeing the availability of coal supplies for national power plants. Jamaludin appreciated the swift response of Energy Minister Bahlil Lahadalia to the rolling blackouts in several regions. He assessed that the minister’s statement clarified that the government has carried out its regulatory function and guaranteed primary energy supply, while the operational aspects of electricity are the responsibility of PLN as the system operator. According to Jamaludin, data presented by the Energy Ministry shows that PLN’s coal requirement for 2026 is around 154 million tonnes. To meet this need, the Directorate General of Minerals and Coal has assigned national mining companies through the Domestic Market Obligation scheme to supply 180 to 190 million tonnes, far exceeding PLN’s requirement. ‘The data presented by the Energy Minister is very clear. PLN’s requirement is around 154 million tonnes, while the Directorate General of Minerals and Coal has assigned supplies of up to 180 to 190 million tonnes. Of that amount, only around 134 million tonnes have been contracted. This means the problem is not the availability of national coal, but how the supply already allocated by the government can be immediately contracted, distributed, and delivered to power plants as needed,’ Jamaludin said in a written statement on Monday, 22 June 2026. He explained that the current obstacles are more related to technical aspects, including the need for medium-calorie coal required for blending processes at several PLN power plants. In this regard, Jamaludin appreciated the steps taken by the Energy Ministry and the Directorate General of Minerals and Coal to ensure that several medium-calorie coal suppliers immediately send their supplies to power plant locations, particularly in the Java region. Additionally, Jamaludin noted that two large generating units are undergoing maintenance, thereby reducing the available capacity of the Java, Madura, and Bali electricity system.