Cut in power supply affects PT BA's coal production
Monday, August 21 2000 - 03:00 AM WIB
The cut in power supply from state electricity company PT PLN to PT Batu Bara Bukit Asam (PT BA) has affected the production activities at the state owned coal mining company, Republika daily reported on Saturday.
Tommy Isnutomo, the director for production of the Tanjung Enim, South Sumatera-based coal mining company, said on Friday that the cut in the power supply had forced the company to reduce the production activities especially during "peak load hours" between six and 10 hours in the evening.
He said that most of the company relied much on the power supply to run the coal mining equipment, especially during the wet season when large-scale water pump machines had to be used to dry out the flooding mining areas.
As the consequence, the company had failed to meet the production target, he said, adding that if the cut in the production continued, it would affect the coal supply to the Suralaya power plant in Merak West Java.
"If the Suralaya power plant is affected, then the impact will be felt throughout Java", he said.
Tommy said that the regional unit of the state electricity company for South Sumatra has cut the power supply to the coal mining company to 12 MW from 28 MW due to the shortage of the power supply in the region since two years ago.
Fahmi Mukhtar, the head of PLN's Region IV, which controls power supply for South Sumatera, Bengkulu and Lampung, said that the cut in the power supply to PTBA was unavoidable.
He said that the demand of the electricity in the region had reached over 480 MW, exceeding the company's generating capacity of only 430 MW. "If the supply to PTBA was not lowered, the general consumer especially household users would suffer the most," he added. (*)