Published on December 24, 2025, by Jawa Pos
By Nanda Prayoga
JawaPos.com – PLN’s 2025–2034 Electricity Supply Business Plan (RUPTL) is considered to have the potential to become a serious burden on the State Budget (APBN). The large involvement of private power producers, or Independent Power Producers (IPPs), is said to have direct implications for the surge in electricity subsidies and compensation that the state must bear.
Bhima Yudhistira Adhinegara, Executive Director of the Center of Economic and Law Studies (Celios), in his expert testimony in the 2025–2034 PLN RUPTL case, registered number 286/G/2025/PTUN.JKT, stated that the relationship between IPPs and state finances cannot be separated from the government’s fiscal obligations.
A study by the Institute for Energy Economic and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) titled “Transforming Indonesia’s Coal Dependence into Clean Energy Opportunities,” released in November 2025, stated that during the 2024 period, PLN made Rp178.6 trillion in payments to private power producers. Of these total payments, some represent electricity that was not actually used.
Of this total, PLN paid Rp40.6 trillion for unused electricity as a consequence of the PJBTL (Power Purchase Agreement) contract, which requires PLN to continue purchasing electricity from private producers even when it is not needed.
Similar payment burdens have occurred repeatedly in recent years. As a result, the Power Purchase Agreement with private producers has resulted in PLN incurring a total of Rp 150.7 trillion in payments for unneeded electricity over the past five years (2020-2024).
“This Rp 150.7 trillion figure then impacts the state budget subsidy and compensation expenditure. Both PLN and the state finances bear the burden of the costs of unused or undelivered electricity to PLN. The Rp150.7 trillion in the context of selling electricity from private producers to PLN can be categorized as a state loss,” said Bhima in his statement.
This burden arises as a consequence of the power purchase agreement scheme between PLN and private producers. Under the contract, PLN is still required to make payments even if the system does not consume electricity.
Furthermore, the 2025–2034 RUPTL document projects the need for substantial subsidies and compensation through several electricity Supply Cost (BPP) scenarios.
“The 2025–2034 RUPTL contains three scenarios for the Electricity Supply Cost: a 7 percent Public Service Obligation (PSO) Business Margin scenario, projecting the total subsidy and compensation requirement from the State Budget to PLN of IDR 2,938 trillion. The second scenario involves a 7 percent PSO Margin BPP plus Rp240 trillion in State Capital Investment (PMN), resulting in a total subsidy and compensation requirement of Rp2,875 trillion,” he explained.
Meanwhile, the third scenario presents an even greater fiscal burden. “In the third scenario, a 10 percent PSO Margin BPP, the total subsidy and compensation requirement reaches Rp3,116 trillion,” he explained.
The amount of subsidy required is not only influenced by macroeconomic factors and new and renewable energy (EBT) utilization policies, but also by the investment allocation policies of private electricity producers in the RUPTL (Renewable Energy Plan).
“However, beyond macroeconomic factors and EBT policies, there is another input, namely the investment allocation policy for IPPs, which accounts for 73 percent of the total investment requirement, or Rp1,566.1 trillion. IPP investment allocation significantly impacts the burden borne by the State Budget (APBN) and PLN, as the party responsible for electricity costs,” he concluded.