Bali Expat Forum - Bali Travel Forum

I'm in the process of having a villa built in the Bukit. My architect has advised that in February 2006 the PLN intorduced a new charging structure for the supply of electricity. It was not fully clear to him, and thus to me, what the new regime was but it looked like I could be facing monthly bills in excess of Rp 8 million. Naturally, I was somewhat stunned!! It is substantially more than I had been lead to believe when I was looking into moving to Bali.
Currently (no pun intended!), I had planned a 33kva supply but this may have to be reviewed in light of the new charges.
My questions are:
>can anyone direct me to a source of information explaining the charges in English,
>can anyone advise what sort of bills they are recieving for a villa of similar 33kva installation. (Villa has 4 airconditioned bedrooms, 1 airconditioned study, largish pool, water heaters, etc).
>can anyone verify the sketchy information I have been given: for a 33kva supply, the monthly fixed rate is Rp 5,185,000 for which you get 6.1 "somethings!?!" (perhaps, 6.1 kwh??) and any use above that is charged at Rp 850 per 1 "something else!?!" (perhaps, 1wh??)
Advice much appreciated.

Something is not right.

I pay for 5500 watts about 1.5 million per month.

I know people that have 7700 watt who pay about the same.

Including monthly fixed rate.

The amount you have noted is around what we had expected, hence my scepticism of the figures given to me.

My architect had put the point forward that because we were asking for a large supply (33kva) this was considered to be a commercial rate. Could that be a possibility?

And, the rate that you are paying - is that for a large supply too?

Our Architect has been sent back to re-check with the PLN about the charges, particularly about the fixed rate bands as we may be able to have a lower supply (say 22kva if it is available) at a lower rate. Hopefully!!

Thanks for your advice so far, Bert.

I think so (considered commercial)

Why do you need 33.000 watt??

Best is to start with 7700 watt (or maybe 10.000). This is not considered a "commercial value". If needed take a second one of 7700 watt, I think this is possible....

And enough for 2 AC's that are switched on, including pool pump and one waterheater.

My guess is that you don't use 5 ac's and two waterheaters at the same time...

my goodness, i had no idea juice cost that much in Bali.

the figures you pay Bert are what i pay per 3 months.

you are paying equivalent AUD $200/month. or is my math up the cracker?

True.

But I have at least one AC all day running, incl 2-3 computers....

I don't understand why it should be considered as commercial just because you want a large supply of elec?!!

What if you had a large house with a large family who at the same time use AC, computers, etc? People tend to be at home at the same time, especially after school & work in the early evening. Why should you be penalised for this?

CraftyCol, When we move there we will need enough supply for at least 3AC & 2 computers at the same time. Hope the charges won't be as much as what you have been informed!! People of Bali..... please put our minds at rest......

We have 10,600 watts in our house in Sumbawa. We pay about 900,000 per month for that including the fixed monthly cost. Generally we run only two airconditioners from 6pm-6am, plus all the lights inside and out, two hotwater heaters. Our house in Bali has 4,500, if I'm not wrong. We pay substantially less for that.

Interesting reading - at least your experiences are making things look more positive.

The big supply size was worked out on the anticipated peak need: full house, getting ready for a dinner in the house - thus all a/c's running; showers on, thus water heaters & pressure pump; dinner being prepared, thus ovens running; lights; pool pump; music; fridges; computer. Obviously, these are not all constantly running throughout the day but the intent was that a peak surge would not trip the power supply.

This is being reviewed at the moment - perhaps we don't need quite so high a figure, but this will depend on what the next 'rating band' down is available.

Also being reviewed is the 'commercial' v 'domestic' supply to see if that is why the charges are (potentially) so high.

I'll post the results in due course.

Meanwhile, on the PLN web site there seems to be some sort of bill calculator but the Indonesian is beyond me. Has anyone used this with any success?

Cheers
C

Incidentally, presumably your fixed rates are charged on the supply rating from the PLN. This will presumably be something like 7.7kva or (around) 7700 Watts (say).

But there will also be an additional charge for usage, which will be billed in something like kilowatt-hours or watt-hours.

And it may be that the fixed rate gives you a certain amount of kilowatt-hours use before an hourly rate kicks in.

Is this presumption correct?

Cheers,
C

Everybody is using a lot of electricity then here. Bert you are saying you have 5500 watt which is about 25A (220V). I remember that in holland standard houses where equiped with 16A (3520W) and in indonesia most houses have less.

We have a small office with 1 AC (1,5PK), 6 computers and some standard equipment (fridge, dispenser etc.) and we have 3500W and are paying about 800.000 - 900.000 per month.

Kind Regards,

Sander

Well, I’m totally embarrassed. Operating a gallery, and two houses, one would think I would have a handle on this...but, I admit, I do not. If the charge was serious, like more than in the US, I would guess it would attract my attention.

Sorry, but I am forever comparing costs in Bali to costs from many years ago in New York City. So far, Bali has a long way to “catch up” with those costs.

Would anybody like to hazard a guess on the monthly cost for 10,000 watts with average usage?

Cheers,
Steve.

What do you consider average usage? I think that what we do is average, but I know a lot of folks who just can't stand not to have an airconditioned house - that is during the day. For me, that's an excessive use of electricity. Everything is relative Steve. But, as I noted above, we pay about 900,000 per month.

Thanks Bruce. I did note your earlier post and we would be using the power the same way as yourself. However, I was unsure if there was any difference in the pricing structure between Sumbawa and Bali.

Cheers,
Steve.

Good point, Steve. My wife thinks that there is, but she has no proof as we don't have any copies of our electric bills from Bali here. Just a side note, I find this extremely expensive so my guess is that our bills in Bali are less, but then we don't have ac in the Bali houses.