August 16, 2026 | 10:53 am
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - PT PLN (Persero) President Director Darmawan Prasodjo has fully mobilized personnel to accelerate the restoration of the electricity grid following the earthquake in Flores, East Nusa Tenggara (NTT), Indonesia, ensuring that services to the public return to normal as soon as possible. Darmawan expressed his concern and prayers for the affected communities and personally visited the Labuan Bajo area in NTT to ensure that all PLN staff were working at full capacity to support the power restoration process in the quake-hit regions.
"We are deploying our field teams with an all-out effort to ensure these repairs proceed smoothly," Darmawan said during a virtual press conference regarding the Electricity Readiness for the 81st Anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia's Independence, held at the PLN UIP2B Jamali office in Depok, West Java, early Sunday morning, August 16, 2026, as reported by Antara.
However, Darmawan did not specify the exact number of personnel deployed to handle the electricity situation in the disaster-affected areas.
He emphasized, however, that all PLN personnel had been deployed to repair the grid disruptions caused by the earthquake, prioritizing both safety and rapid response in the field. Technical teams are continuously repairing electrical infrastructure—particularly in areas affected by landslides where utility poles had collapsed—requiring direct, phased, and comprehensive intervention.
PLN is optimizing field coordination to ensure smooth restoration operations, allowing the public to regain access to electricity as quickly as possible following the disaster. The restoration of the power supply is also facilitating the resumption of telecommunications services, as the majority of transmission stations have regained power from the PLN grid.
The normalization of the power supply provides crucial support for public communication and emergency response efforts during the post-earthquake recovery process across the affected regions of NTT. Darmawan assured that PLN would continue to monitor the situation on the ground until the entire grid and all affected customers have fully and sustainably regained normal electricity service.
He stated that the electrical system underwent rapid repairs. Power plants that had shut down were brought back online one by one, and substations that had lost power were successfully reactivated. All 11 substations that had previously lost power are now back online. "Out of 59 feeders, 58 are operational—representing 98.3 percent—and as of our arrival here just moments ago, we have successfully restored power to 88 percent of customers," he said.
Efforts are being accelerated to restore power to the remaining 11 percent of customers, particularly in areas affected by landslides where utility poles had collapsed. "We are currently working on repairs one by one, and we expect all customers to have their power restored by tomorrow (Sunday, August 16)," he stated.
"We are here in Labuan Bajo to ensure that the restoration of the electrical system in this earthquake-affected area proceeds smoothly," said the President Director of PLN.
Read: TNI Mobilizes 1,267 Personnel for NTT Earthquake Response
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