Bill reductions and prepaid credits
Customers with postpaid accounts will receive compensation through lower bills, while those using prepaid electricity will get additional credits. Payments to business-to-business (B2B) customers will follow the terms of their service contracts.
In a statement Monday, PLN Batam communication and public relations manager Vidya Kartika apologized to residents and businesses affected by the outage. She said the compensation arrangements were governed by Riau Islands Governor Regulation No. 22/2017 and PLN Batam Board of Directors No. 23/21 on Service Quality Level.
The utility had outlined compensation rates on Oct. 19, 2026. Business and Business Development Director Raditya Surya Danu said regular customers would automatically receive compensation equal to 10 percent of their electricity charges in their November bills under the 2017 regulation. For special B2B customers, he put compensation at 15 to 25 percent of total electricity consumption, depending on the service type.
PLN Batam said its calculations would be transparent. Customers can see their compensation amounts in the Bright by PLN Batam app, on the company's official website or by visiting a UP3 service center in Baloi, Batu Aji, Nagoya or Tiban.
The company also said it would report on the compensation program's implementation to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources. As of Oct. 19, it had not calculated its own financial losses from the outage.
Fault spread from a substation to the grid
PLN Batam president director Kwin Fo traced the outage to an electrical flashover at a transformer in the Sungai Harapan Substation at 6:28 a.m. WIB on Oct. 12, 2026.
According to Kwin Fo, a protective circuit breaker did not trip, allowing the fault to reach the 150-kilovolt transmission grid. The 220-megawatt Tanjung Uncang power plant then tripped offline. A series of further trips left the entire Batam grid without power by 6:37 a.m. WIB.
Five suspects and internal changes
The management reshuffle involves PLN Batam's Public Relations and Corporate Secretary division. It follows the naming of five suspects on Oct. 20: four company employees identified as RB, ZR, DA and AWD, and a contractor identified as AEP.
The suspects face charges under Article 51 of Law No. 30/2009 on Electricity, as amended by Law No. 6/2023.
Before identifying the suspects, investigators questioned 25 witnesses, among them legal experts and forensic specialists. Evidence seized included a CCTV digital video recorder from the Sei Harapan Substation, three pieces of conductor and three pairs of busbar plates from the secondary 20-kilovolt side.
