Powering a Modern Life? Residents’ Experiences of the Electricity Supply in Tanjung Pinang

Abstract

Access to an affordable and reliable electricity supply is vital not only for economic development but also for citizens’ quality of life. Indonesia has made significant progress towards near-universal electrification, but this achievement masks vast disparities in household access to electricity. Problems with affordability and reliability of supply are experienced even in Indonesia’s major cities but are far worse in remote areas and on the country’s many hundreds of inhabited small islands, which are not connected to a major grid. Drawing on Indonesian government data and a survey of householders (N = 360), this article measures variations in the quantity and quality of electricity supply in different areas in Tanjung Pinang, the capital of Riau Islands province (Kepri). As this article demonstrates, interruptions in supply have a serious impact on residents’ capacity to power a modern life.

Akses terhadap listrik yang murah dan dapat diandalkan adalah sesuatu yang vital, tidak hanya bagi perkembangan ekonomi, namun juga bagi kualitas hidup para penduduk. Indonesia telah membuat kemajuan yang signifikan hingga mencapai tingkat elektrifikasi yang mendekati universal, namun pencapaian ini menutup ketimpangan akses rumah tangga terhadap kelistrikan. Permasalahan terkait keterjangkauan dan keterandalan penawaran listrik dialami bahkan di kota-kota besar di Indonesia, namun jauh lebih buruk di area-area terpencil dan di ratusan pulau kecil berpenghuni di seluruh Indonesia, yang tidak terkoneksi dengan jaringan listrik besar. Dengan menggunakan data pemerintah dari survey rumah tangga (jumlah sampel 360), tulisan ini mengukur variasi pada kuantitas dan kualitas penawaran listrik di berbagai daerah di Tanjung Pinang, ibukota dari provinsi Kepulauan Riau (Kepri). Seperti yang didemonstrasikan dalam tulisan ini, gangguan listrik memiliki dampak yang serius terhadap kapasitas warga untuk mulai menikmati kehidupan modern.

Keywords:

• electrification
• national distribution network
• small islands
• interruptions in supply
• consumer responses
• electricity supply
• affordable electricity

JEL classification:

• Q40
• Q41
• Q47
• Q48
• Q49
• R20
• R21
• R22

Notes

1 Note that electrification is a murky concept. Different measures of electrification are used even within government. The Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (MEMR) includes customers connected to the PLN (state electricity company) grid but also non-grid PLN customers (e.g., those using individual photovoltaic systems managed by PLN), and those with electricity supply from non-PLN sources (e.g., households using solar mini grids provided under the non-PLN rural electrification program). In contrast, PLN statistics are based on PLN customers (i.e., those who receive electricity from grid or non-grid PLN-managed sources (ADB 2016, 11).

2 This research was conducted as part of a project funded by the Australia-Indonesia Centre. My thanks to Anthony Vassallo and Rajab Khalilpour, who contributed to the survey design, and to our research assistant, Tu Tu, who travelled to Batam and Bintan with me in July 2015, where he conducted interviews with representatives of PLN in Tanjung Pinang and B’right PLN in Batam.

3 450 VA in capacity is equivalent to a flow of 450 watts (W). Householders on a 450 VA plan cannot impose demand that exceeds 450 W, which means that they cannot use even moderate-demand appliances, such as a microwave, and that they must alternate the use of relatively low-demand appliances; for example, a small iron and a small refrigerator.

4 Calculated using population projections for 2015 from the BPS website.

5 See Tharakan (2015) for an overview of regulatory developments since 1999 and ADB (2016, 13–17) for a detailed discussion of policies on access.

6 A series of other regulations issued in 2005 and 2006 further advanced the framework for privatisation. For details, see PWC (2016).

7 These statistics were compiled by disaggregating the statistics for the former district of Insular Riau and recompiling them according to more recent local government boundaries.

8 For an ethnographic account of Tanjung Pinang, see Long (2013).

9 A separate part of the survey focused on renewable energy, but that part is not reported in this article.