Speaker Puan Calls on PLN to Mitigate Impact of Rolling Blackouts

Jakarta (ANTARA) - Speaker of the Indonesian House of Representatives Puan Maharani has urged PT PLN (Persero) to mitigate the impact of rolling blackouts that have significantly disrupted public activities and to transparently explain to the public the reasons behind the prolonged outages occurring on Java Island.

She stated that the rolling blackouts have been ongoing for several weeks in Java. According to her, the lengthy duration has frequently caused public unrest as the power cuts disrupt daily activities and affect economic matters.

“I have noted the rolling blackouts in several areas of Java due to disruptions in coal supply and technical faults at coal-fired power plants. This certainly causes discomfort for the affected communities,” Puan said in Jakarta on Monday.

On Monday, PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo and his team visited the Presidential Palace to explain the blackout issues to President Prabowo Subianto. Puan appreciated the efforts made by PLN to address the problem.

However, she cautioned that PLN’s commitment to reducing rolling blackouts must not halt the evaluation process. She also asked PLN to mitigate the impacts arising from the rolling blackouts, particularly by protecting the community groups and sectors most affected.

“The root cause of the disruptions, which have a broad impact on society, must be known transparently,” Puan stated.

When the electricity goes out, Puan noted, economic activities, education, health services, communications, and work in certain sectors also come to a halt.

Behind the frequent and prolonged power outages, she believes there lies a larger issue concerning the resilience of national energy infrastructure, protection for small business operators, and the quality of public services that are the right of the people.

“This incident must serve as a lesson to strengthen the governance of the national energy sector. Energy resilience is a crucial foundation for investment, industry, and public services,” Puan concluded.