Widodo slams state power co:

Indonesia’s state power company PLN should have had plans in place to prevent a major electricity blackout that affected 21 million customers in Jakarta and neighbouring provinces, President Joko Widodo said on Monday.

In the wake of the biggest power outage in 14 years on Sunday, Widodo demanded to know why the utility PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN) did not have a back-up plan given its history of blackouts.

“Things that can cause this big event should not happen again in the future,” Widodo told senior managers during a visit to PLN headquarters, calling for repairs to be made quickly.

Jakarta, the centre of government and business in Indonesia, suffers periodic blackouts that are usually short-lived and confined to certain areas.

Power failed around noon on Sunday after faulty transmission circuits triggered “cascading voltage” that disconnected power plants supplying electricity to the west part of Java island, which includes the capital, PLN said.

The outage, the biggest since a transmission failure cut power in Java and Bali in 2005, halted Jakarta’s subway system and commuter train lines, stranding passengers.

Many parts of the city were without power for at least for nine hours, and on Monday there were still complaints on Twitter that power was yet to be restored in some areas after 30 hours.

Rida Mulyana, director general of electricity at the energy ministry, said 21 million customers were affected by the outage.

Sripeni Inten Cahyani, PLN’s acting CEO, warned of further disruptions, including rolling blackouts, as the company worked to restore power. (RTRS)