JAKARTA: Jakarta residents demand stable electricity after repeated outages Jakartans are demanding more reliable electricity after a blackout hit parts of the city for hours on April 23, disrupting public transport services, critical university admission tests and other operations in the second outage this month.
The blackout began at around 10.25am local time due to technical issues and supply disturbance at 13 main substations across the capital, state-owned electricity firm PLN said in a statement the same day.
The company later confirmed that power was fully restored within two to four hours.
Areas affected by the outage included Bendungan Hilir and the Thamrin business district in Central Jakarta, as well as Kuningan, Jagakarsa and Tebet in South Jakarta.
The tap-to-pay system at a Transjakarta bus station in South Jakarta was briefly knocked out, while a traffic light at an intersection on Jl. Daan Mogot in West Jakarta also failed temporarily, though no major gridlock was reported.
Greater Jakarta Light Rapid Transit (LRT) services were also forced to halt operations briefly after losing power.
“I hope there will be no outage again. It’s quite frustrating to experience this in a big city like Jakarta,” said Andre, a barista in Bendungan Hilir, whose workplace lost power for more than two hours on April 23.
Frustration was also voiced by residents in East Jakarta, where the outage extended into several neighborhoods, including the Jakarta State University (UNJ) campus, which was hosting the widely-anticipated computer-based entrance exam (UTBK) for state university admissions.
Around 871,496 students took part in this year’s UTBK, competing for approximately 250,000 seats at state universities across Indonesia.
The exam was held from April 21 to April 30 across dozens of UTBK centers nationwide, most of them located at state universities.
Eduart Wolok, head of the National Selection for New Student Admissions (SNPMB), said the blackout caused computer systems to temporarily shut down during exams at UNJ and two other affected campuses, namely National Development University (UPN) in South Jakarta and the University of Indonesia in neighboring Depok, West Java.
Social media was soon flooded with complaints from students whose exams were disrupted, many blaming the outage for adding stress during such crucial examinations.
But Eduart explained that the disruption did not reduce students’ allotted exam time, as the system automatically preserved the remaining duration. The tests later resumed using backup power.
“Once power was restored, the clock resumed without reducing any time from students’ exam period,” he said, as quoted by Kompas.
Haris Andika, senior manager of communications and public affairs at PLN’s Greater Jakarta regional office, said the company would continue monitoring its infrastructure to prevent similar incidents from recurring.
“We will continue to provide reliable electricity to all customers through regular inspections and maintenance, enabling early detection of potential issues so immediate repairs can be carried out,” he told The Jakarta Post on April 24.
Thursday’s blackout marked the second such incident this month.
On April 9, a disturbance at a main substation left several neighborhoods in darkness, knocked out traffic systems and disrupted operations at several Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) stations, including an incident in which 10 passengers were briefly trapped in a lift at Lebak Bulus station in South Jakarta before being evacuated. - The Jakarta Post/ANN
