South and Central Kalimantan face electricity crisis

South and Central Kalimantan may suffer a crisis in electricity supply following the collapses of eight transmission towers which supplied the electricity from the Asem Asem steam power plant, the largest power supplier for the two provinces, Media Indonesia reported on Friday.

Purnomo, the general manager of the branch office of the state owned electricity company PLN for South and Central Kalimantan, said in Banjarmasin on Thursday that the Riam Kanan hydropower plant which was expected to cope with the cut in the power supply from the Asam Asam power plant could not be operated at its normal capacity due to the decline in the water level in the dam which supported the power plant.

He said that the decline in the power supply from the Riam Kanan power plant would certainly cause a power crisis in the two provinces because the supply from other power plants would be far from enough to meet the electricity demand.

According to him, the water capacity at the Riam Kanan dam continued to decline due to the lack of rains during the past several weeks. "There were some rains during the first several days but they brought no big impact on the water level in the dam," he said.

Purnomo also said that PLN had decided to give a 10 percent discount to the company's customers in the two provinces for the December billing following the local people's protests over the power blackout caused by the cut in the power supply from the Asam Asam power plant.

At least eight transmission towers, which supplied the electricity from the Asam Asam power plant, were collapsed last week after a group of people had stolen parts of the towers. (*)