Power outages also hit West Sumatra as PLN conducts gradual restoration

PLN’s West Sumatra Distribution Main Unit (UID Sumatera Barat/Sumbar) continues to pursue gradual restoration of electricity after a period of disruption that affected outages in several areas.

As of 22:50 WIB, parts of Sumbar’s system had gradually returned to normal from the existing Hydroelectric Power Plant (PLTA) and Micro-hydroelectric Power Plant (PLTMH) sources, accounting for about 27 percent of the system’s load demand, said Yesi Yuliani, PLN UID Sumbar Communications Manager, quoted by Antara on Saturday (23 May 2026).

Yesi said that for Steam Power Plants (PLTU) and Geothermal Power Plants, normalisation of operations is still awaited. PLN local teams are ensuring continued inspections of the electricity system faults in several areas across the Minangkabau region.

Beyond Sumbar, outages were reported in Aceh, North Sumatra and Riau. Since the fault occurred, PLN immediately dispatched technical teams to inspect the entire electricity system and network and to trace the cause of the fault.

PLN urged the public to stay calm and not panic. Information on handling progress will be communicated periodically via the PLN Mobile app and the PLN 123 contact centre service.

Meanwhile, a resident of Bukittinggi, Ica, said the power outage affected not only household needs but also disrupted communication via telephone using social media apps.

“During the outage I have difficulty contacting family via WhatsApp to ask for updates. I hope PLN will resolve this issue soon,” she said.