NEWS FLASH

As many Indonesians welcome Earth Hour on Saturday evening, state electricity utility PLN has asked its customers not to simultaneously switch off their electricity, saying it may suddenly shut down its power plants.

“Power plants may experience sudden loss of burden and be subsequently shut off,” PLN managing director Dahlan Iskan said Saturday, as quoted by tempointeraktif.com.

He explained that it would take time to turn on generators that were suddenly cut off and that some machines could be damaged.

“That is a very technical issue that many people are not aware of,” Dahlan said.

Dahlan added that Earth Hour did not significantly reduce electricity consumption, saying the same program last year saved only 200 megawatts of electricity across the country, which was equal to only Rp 100 million (US$11,500).

Dahlan said he considered Earth Hour a positive movement, but added there were other more effective and simpler ways to save electricity, such as properly turning off their televisions.

“Many people turn off TVs using remote controls and think they have turned off the electricity, while actually it is on standby. If only they turn off the electricity properly, surely we can make significant savings,” he said.