Electricity/cables etc. in Indonesia
This is an article about my experiences with electricity in Indonesia. I am not an electrician so feel free to ignore everything…. This is just for the benefit of those who want to fix the electricity in their house, which is often unsafe.
Cable
There are two main types of cable, single-conductor, called NYA, and multi-conductor. The multi-conductor cables usually have white insulation, which is called NYM. The black version, called NYY, is more expensive. The difference between NYM and NYY is that NYY is outdoor-rated and can be buried in the ground. NYM is not rated for this and will perish quickly due to sunlight, rain, etc.
Most cable in Indonesia is fake. That is to say it is marked 1.5mm but is actually 0.5mm or similar. Do not buy the fake cable. Buy a real brand such as
- Eterna
- Supreme
- Golden Leaves
This will be much more expensive than fake cable, because it actually contains the correct amount of copper. In addition, the copper is real and not just CCA (aluminium with a brown plating), and will not break easily. The insulation is also much stronger. Avoid fake cables. Good cable will be marked SNI and LMK. Fake cable is often marked SMI (sic) and LNK (sic). But the brand and price are good signs.
In terms of cost, NYA is cheaper than NYM. However it is not compliant to use NYA without extra electrical conduit (pipes). When you consider the cost of the conduit NYM is definitely cheaper and quicker to work with. However most Indonesians don’t trust that their cable will not be gnawed by rats, and NYA plus conduit seems safer then just throwing NYM into your ceiling.
Cable colours: Indonesian colours are standardized by law based on PUIL:
- ground: green and yellow (NOT yellow only — this was an old live colour)
- neutral: blue (frequently this is reversed)
- phase: black, brown or grey
Note that there are three phase (‘hot’) colours, because of the use of both 3 and single-phase electricity.
Electricity meters
Electricity meters in Indonesia come in two types, pre- and post-paid. The pre-paid uses a token, which you can buy online. For post-paid you pay monthly in arrears. There is a minimum of 40 times the rated capacity payable for post-paid; e.g., a 2.2 kW meter will cost not less than 88 kW per month.
Indonesia electricity is 220V. The MCB fitted to the meter determines the capacity:
- 2A = 440W (called 450W)
- 4A = 880W (called 900W)
- 6A = 1320W (called 1300W)
- 10A = 2200W
- 16A = 3520W (called 3500W)
- 20A = 4400W
- 25A = 5500W
- 35A = 7700W etc.
Electricity below 1100W is heavily subsidized, otherwise the price is:
- 1444.7 rp per kWh, PLUS PPJ (lighting tax, usually 8–10%). If you have 7700W or more you will also have to pay PPN (VAT) at 10%. For that reason it’s best to stick at 5500W, but obviously this depends on your needs. 6600W is not subject to PPN, but it might not be possible to get a 6600W single phase meter (only three phase). Therefore electricity costs around 1600–1800 rp per kWh.
It is illegal to replace the MCB on your meter with a larger one. For a prepaid meter this will not work. Instead you must pay to upgrade. This can be done online via https://web.pln.co.id/pelanggan/layanan-online/perubahan-daya-migrasi The cost is just under 1000rp per additional kW. E.g., 2200 to 3500 costs 1259700 rp. There are sometime 50% off promotions to increase the wattage.
If you have a simple house then often the meter is undersized. Since meters of 440W are massively subsidized, it’s common to have two meters with the 440W meter running 24/7 at full capacity, however this is not really right or fair! If your meter is undersized then your electricity will trip constantly. In particular, electric ovens will be over 1000 Watts, a reasonable kettle around 1800W, and could be as much as 3000W. Howee
Cable sizes
Although it is possible to buy smaller wires than 1.5mm (note: this refers to the cross sectional area, not the diameter), and they are quite adequate for LED lighting, these tend to be flexible (multi-strand) cables designed for area when flexibility is needed and aren’t necessarily cheaper.
The standards for NYA/NYM cable in conduit connected to an MCB are:
- 0.5mm — 440W
- 0.75mm — 880W
- 1mm — 1320W
- 1.5mm — 2200W
- 2.5mm — 3520W or 4400W for NYM
- 4mm — 4400W or 5500W for NYM
- 6mm — 5500W or 7700W for NYM
- 10mm — 7700W or 11000W for NYM
Note that 1.5mm cable is actually sufficient to run most entire Indonesian houses, which do not exceed 2200W. In addition, it is quite rare for appliances in Indonesia to exceed 2000W.
However for example if you had all the sockets in the house on one MCB, then a 1800W hair dryer and a 2000W dishwasher running at the same time would exceed the capacity of 1.5mm cable
For this reason while it would be ok to have bedroom sockets using 1.5mm cable, you’d want to fit a 10A MCB to protect it from overload, and you’d want a separate circuit specially for high-drain appliances such as dishwashers, kettles, etc. and again to protect with an appropriate MCB.
Note that PLN use aluminium cable, which is just as good as copper if sufficiently large in cross section, but for household usage is very bulky if appropriately sized.
Some people like to use 1.5mm for lighting and 2.5mm for plug sockets, and this is reasonable rule of thumb, it just depends on your total household electricity size. If you have a very large meter, then 2.5mm cannot carry all your load, and you need to split it. On the other hand for a simple house where there is no chance of ever needing more than 2200W in total, it’s not really necessary to buy expensive 2.5mm cable rather than 1.5mm cable.
MCBs
MCBs are switches protecting the ‘hot’ wire. If there is overload or short circuit, they will trip and turn off. By creating multiple circuits within your house, a fault in, say, lighting, does not make all your power go off.
The Schneider 12-MCB Domae box is quite satisfactory.
Schneider also make MCBs, which are good quality
Because of some double-sized MCBs, and for upgrading, etc., a larger MCB box is quite useful.
A DIN rail timer
can be used to switch lights on and off automatically; it takes two slots in your MCB box, and still should be connected to an MCB as well, as it’s only a timer switch, not a protection device.
RCCB/RCB/RCD/ELCB and RCBO
An RCCB/RCB/RCD/ELCB does the same job with many names and detects current leakage, to protect against electric shock.
An RCBO is an RCD plus MCB in one. You can add an RCBO to your MCB box to add protection to your house.
Grounding
The Indonesian standard is to ground plug sockets, but not light switches. That’s the standard only. In practice plug sockets are rarely grounded either.
Grounding is done with a 2.4m (or longer) ground rod driven into the ground. Some people argue this should be pure copper, but in practice copper-plated steel seems to be just as practical and much cheaper. The ground rod will be connected to your MCB box with a thick ground wire. The ground wire is then connected in series to each socket in the house.
A compliant grounding installation is supposed to be tested with an earth tester. This device is expensive. If you can find someone who installs grounding they should have this device.
You can test that you have grounding with a simple plug tester, which costs around 150,000rp. Note that it PUIL requires that the left pin in each socket be connected to the hot wire, and the right pin to neutral. Since plugs are reversible this is not all that important, but you should follow it.
Lighting
There doesn’t seem to be much sense in buying other than LED bulbs, which are cheap and efficient. Hannochs are a cheaper option, Philips more expensive. There are other brands cheaper still. Bardi bulbs are around 90,000rp for a 12W wifi smart bulb which changes colour and can be dimmed down to 1.2W via your phone. They also make LED strips which can be extended from 2m up to 10m with one power supply. Unfortunately they do not supply smart spot lights or downlights.
‘Cool white’ light bulbs are most common in Indonesia. These are quite harsh, and warm white (referred to by Indonesians as ‘yellow’) are better for most household tasks. It is also very common to use one very bright light bulb, instead of multiple bulbs in appropriate places. If possible have many sources of light, and at different heights in the room (e.g. a bedside wall light, a pendant ceiling light, and so on).
Downlights, installed in ceilings, are generally a bad idea because they are wasteful and harsh. However for low ceilings (say, 2.5m) they can work well. They are very popular despite their issues.
The most common light fittings are simply dangling plastic. Searching online you can find nicer light fixtures from around 100,000rp. Ikea sell good light fittings, which they will deliver around Indonesia. They also sell cheap GU10 spotlight bulbs.
Switches, wall boxes and plug sockets
There are a lot of cheap switches stuck on walls with loose cables. This is not the good way — a switch should be embedded in the wall, and the cable needs to be buried in the wall, or hidden behind it, as applicable. The switch requires a wall box, called a ‘dus’. The wall boxes match the manufacturer’s switches, so Schneider will not fit Panasonic. Do not buy metal wall boxes, instead the plastic boxes, which cost around 2 or 3000rp each.
The ‘dus’ will attach together making for neat multiple sockets or switches. Panasonic make an old-style wide socket, which is not recommended.
Note that for light fittings, you can have up to about 4 switches in one fitting/dus. For plugs you will need many!
I have sixteen plug sockets in my bedroom, so it’s a good idea to install a large number. It’s quite common to find Chinese appliances in Indonesia, so it’s highly recommended to install international sockets in bedrooms and kitchens.
Schneider and Panasonic seem to make the best switches and sockets. Philips are lower quality.
It is worth looking at two-way switches, often called hotel switches. These are interconnected with two extra cables, and allow you to turn off lights from your bed, or up/downstairs. Note that wifi bulbs can make these redundant except that if you live in an area with frequent powercuts, you will still want to have two-way switches, because wifi bulbs tend to turn back on after powercuts, so a switch (which doesn’t have to be two-way of course), is a necessity to turn things off properly at night. The same often applies for things like ceiling fans with remote controls — these need a separate switch. In Indonesia a double-pole switch (one that turns off both neutral and live) is probably overkill (it makes things safer for cleaning etc. because the neutral can carry a current, so the double-pole switch is a safety feature).
Since you will need a LOT of plug sockets, it’s best to fit double or triple sockets any time you fit a plug socket. There’s really no point in buying single sockets (although the international sockets will typically be single). Generally the standard internationally is to have plug sockets every two metres, but in practice fit them where you need, with more in the kitchen. Indonesian sockets are not child-proof (though you can get ‘CP’ models which are harder to stick things in), and for this reason tend to be fitted high up the wall. However, in most cases closer to the ground is more useful. It’s best to stick to your instincts on this, but if you have small children then obviously the safety issue is relevant.
Fans
If you read information from Thailand, which suffers a horrible monsoon climate then you might be misled about cooling — Indonesia is within 10 degrees of the equator so has no hot season. This means that air conditioning is not necessary with good house design. This includes shading trees and room ventilation.
A common feature of Indonesian houses is to have ventilation holes. Often these are very small and don’t do much, except let in outside noise. A better approach may be to use a ventilation fan. It is necessary to have two fans, one for exhaust, and one for intake. The intake should be fitted low on one wall picking up the prevailing wind direction, and the outlet on the opposite wall. This will cool your house. Compared with Australia etc. Indonesia does not suffer such extreme heat, but this will depend where you live. However my house is below 28C inside, which is within the parameters to use fans without needing air conditioning. A fan is likely to be much more effective than a big hole in the wall, and they start around 5 Watts, which is insignificant.
Unfortunately the DC ceiling fans sold by Panasonic in Vietnam and Malaysia are not available in Indonesia — these are much better than the low-quality units sold to Indonesian consumers.
