PLN to offer incentives to industries shifting power consumption hours

State electricity firm PLN will in October and November offer two incentive packages to large electricity consumers from the Java ? Bali power grid area with an aim to encourage them to shift their using of electricity from peak hours and reduce their power consumption, a PLN official said Monday.

Large consumers of high and medium voltage electricity willing to use electricity before and after 6 ? 10 PM, which are peak hours in the Java ? Bali area, will get incentives as much as 25 percent of the amount they normally pay for power consumption during the peak hours. Meanwhile, incentives for those reducing power consumption will depend on how much their electricity consumption will be reduced and how long it will last, PLN's sales and customers service director Sunggu Anwar Aritonang said in a statement.

Power consumers intending to accept PLN's offer will be required to sign an agreement with the company, Sunggu said.

Sunggu said that his company had planned to reduce electricity consumption during peak hours to 600 megawatts (MW) for a couple of months, starting from next month.

He said that as many as 22 large industries consuming around 100 MW of electricity each, had expressed interest to accept PLN's offer.

Sunggu said further that his company's move was crucial for avoiding blackout in the Java ? Bali area in the coming months.

He said more PLN-operated hydro power plants in the area might be forced to stop operation during the coming weeks due to a drastic drop in the water level at dams. Last year's and this year's severe drought had caused a fall in river water supply to dams. (godang)