D

espite efforts by the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo to bring electricity to the country’s rural areas, hundreds of villages in Central Sulawesi are not yet linked to power grids.

While the country’s electrification rate now stands at 88 percent, the province’s electrification ratio is now at 63.25 percent.

At least 741 villages out of 1,842 villages and 175 subdistricts in Central Sulawesi are not yet connected to electricity, or 36.75 percent of villages, said Emir Muhaimin, manager of the Palu chapter of state-owned power company PLN.

Current installed power in the province totals 314.40 megawatts (MW). Power output reaches 235.70 MW and connected power 503.24 MW. Central Sulawesi’s household electrification ratio currently stands at 77.80 percent.

The company is working to increase the electrification ratio by expanding the network to villages. The electrification ratio compares the number of residents connected to electricity with the total number of residents in an area.

A number of regions set to expand the power network in 2016 include Rio Pakava in Donggala regency and Bahodopi in Morowali regency.

“However, in terms of capacity, Central Sulawesi still has a surplus,” he said.

PLN aims for the household electrification ratio to reach 85 percent and the rural electrification ratio to reach 80 percent in 2017, Emir added.

Sigi regent M. Irwan Lapata said there were around 43 villages in Sigi regency that were not yet connected to electricity. The villages are spread across several districts in Sigi, with most of them in the Pipikoro, Kulawi, South Kulawi, Lindu and West Dolo districts.

The Sigi regency administration will prioritize infrastructure development over the next five years to improve local economies, especially in areas that suffer from inadequate roads and are not connected to electricity.

Irwan expressed the hope that within the next five years all regions in Sigi would be linked up to power grids and could benefit from adequate road infrastructure.

“With good road access and electricity, people’s economic condition will improve,” he said.

There are 14 provinces in Indonesia that by October this year will record electrification ratios of between 41 percent and 60 percent, according to data from the Directorate General of Electricity and Energy Utilization at the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry.

The provinces are Riau and Riau Islands (55.84 percent), Jambi (51.41 percent), Bengkulu (51.46 percent), Lampung (48.82 percent), South Sumatra (50.30 percent), West Kalimantan (45.83 percent), Central Kalimantan (45.22 percent), Gorontalo (49.79 percent), Central Sulawesi (48.30 percent), South Sulawesi, West Sulawesi (55.20 percent), Maluku (54.51 percent) and North Maluku (49.44 percent).

Indonesia recorded an electrification ratio of 88 percent last December. However, access to electricity is still centered in Java, while the eastern regions remain mostly in the dark.

The lack of electricity in the regions is mostly blamed on poor infrastructure, which contributes to high transportation costs.

In order to boost electrification in remote areas, the government, through the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, is currently preparing regulatory incentives to encourage the private sector to light up remote villages that PLN has not yet touched.

Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Ignasius Jonan said last week the regulation would allow private companies to set up grids in remote villages and sell the electricity straight to the residents without having to go through PLN.