To reform or not reform? Competing energy transition perspectives on Indonesia's monopoly electricity supplier Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN)

Abstract

This paper maps the opposing rationales for reforming or not reforming the giant monopoly electricity provider in the world's fourth most populous country. Indonesia's state-owned power company, Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN), distributes electricity to 98 % of the country's households. Only 13 % of the company's power generation is from renewable sources, while 60 % is from coal-fired power plants. PLN is sometimes cast as the main obstacle to the energy transition in Indonesia, which has a more carbon-intensive electricity sector than both China and India. How PLN evolves is therefore important for global climate mitigation. Based on document analysis and rare interviews with the high-level policymakers who govern PLN, we find that keeping consumer prices low and maintaining security of supply are the utility's dominant concerns. Indirect costs, negative environmental externalities and alternative business opportunities in renewable energy are rarely taken into consideration. This is due to entrenched elite interests and what is referred to in the theoretical literature as ‘collective conservatism’. Three measures that could change PLN's approach to decarbonisation are: redirecting government financial support, introducing more stringent carbon pricing regulations and leveraging growing private business interest in renewable energy to change the framework within which PLN operates.