She had been banging it on the wall all day, and some of yesterday,
and a bit of the day before that. In fact she had been banging
her head for a long time.
She had been trying to make sense of the electricity supply
to her house.
Her friends all said the same. “Don’t try and
make sense of it, it will send you mad”.
She wouldn’t listen. She needed order in her life. She
needed the fridge to work and the lights to turn on at night.
In fact she needed civilisation as she knew it. At least her
electric toothbrush runs on batteries.
Her hair curlers, however, were another matter. She would
just get one side done and “pop” the power would
be off leaving her with a somewhat unusual hair style. Sort
of July Garland one side, Cher the other. Her love life was
suffering.
Alas, this is Bali and trying to make sense of it all had
made her a bit of a head banger. Her doctor diagnosed a severe
case of Power Loss Neurosis (PLN).
The fact is that here in Paradise the electricity is a bit
thin. Not like that wonderful stuff you get in Britain or
Australia with 240 wonderful volts to shove up yer chuff.
Of course 240 is luxury but it is possible to make do with
less, after all Americans are still living under wartime restrictions
with an allowance of only 110 volts and they seem to manage
alright.
In Bali there are so many people wanting to chill out, have
a cold beer and watch the footy that there simply aren’t
enough volts to go around so everyone has to make do with
less. (In Sanur they ran out years ago but still carry on
issuing more).
Not only that but the few volts that are around are tired
before they get here. It’s the long journey from Surabaya
that’s to blame. By the time they arrive in Bali they
are all pretty knackered. Electrical wisdom says that power
stations have a limit as to how far electricity can be transmitted
effectively. The limit is around 400 kilometres.
Our national electricity supplier PLN promise an adequate
220 volts but unfortunately your home supply may drop as low
as 180 volts. Your computers and air conditioners don’t
like it and flourescent lights take forever to switch themselves
on!
PLN are under pressure and are struggling for solutions. Have
you noticed how they have toned down the lingo. It’s
rather like the military jargon “collateral damage”
when they mean “we have killed civilians” or how
about “killed by friendly fire”. When has fire
ever been friendly? It is all to do with softening the words
to be more palatable. Here In Indonesia they don’t have
“blackouts” they have “brownouts”.
Brownout! what do they mean “brownout?” Are PLN
trying to muddy the issue, to suggest that when your power
cuts off it is not a black and white issue? Are they suggesting
that lights don’t actually go out, they just go really,
really dim?
The local authorities have come up with a solution. They switch
the lights off at night.
So what can you do?
Well you could be all romantic and light candles but that
tends to put up the birthrate which in turn increases the
demand for electricity. Did you know that 9 months after the
Nyepi day of silence there is always a jump in the number
of babies born? Sorry I digress - again.
You could help by reducing the amount of power you use. Electrical
devices that produce or remove heat or carry out mechanical
tasks use most power such as pumps, air conditioners, microwaves
and toasters. Light bulbs use much less power and those new
fangled low wattage bulbs can be driven by a mouse in a treadmill.
Electronic equipment is not a heavy user of power but tends
to be a tad susceptible to being blown to pieces by power
surges.
To protect your air conditioners and electronic equipment
you can install a voltage regulator which will boost your
volts back up to 220 but you should realise that to make up
the voltage difference you will use a higher current from
the PLN supply and it is current, not voltage, that sets off
your circuit breakers. A standard voltage regulator for your
house will set you back aboutRp5,000,000. It must be fitted
between the PLN supply and your house distribution box. If
you are looking forward to a long and healthy retirement I
suggest that you do not ask your pembantu, or the watch salesman
from the beach, to install it.
You may also consider peaks and troughs in your usage of power.
Many things, particularly well pumps and refrigerators, turn
on randomly. When things combine you can end up with a sudden
high demand of power. So let us say that you are at home with
the tele and the air conditioner on. You go to the toilet
and the well pump starts, someone is cooking and opens the
fridge to take out some bread which sets off the sensor so
the fridge compressor starts, the bread is put into the toaster
and ……. You get the idea. Within seconds your
power usage has increased from perhaps 1.5 kilowatts to 5!
It will of course drop quickly as things switch off again
but, too late, the circuit breaker has done its job.
For your computer you can buy a small voltage regulator fairly
cheaply (maybe RP100.000) but a voltage regulator will not
protect your computer from power cuts and you may wish to
consider a UPS (Uninterrupted Power Supply) which also includes
a battery. For a cost of around RP500,000 a UPS will provide
a stable voltage and, if the power cuts, will keep your computer
going for about 20 minutes giving you plenty of time to close
it down and save that precious 4 hours of work you have just
done.
A UPS can save your sanity. No more will you jump up and down
and bang your head against the wall cursing the fact that
you forgot to back up that last vital chapter of the novel
you have been trying to finish for the past thee months. Aaarggghh,
I would commit suicide if I could find my razor blade. Where’s
that torch?
As for the electricity supply, don’t hold your breath.
I think we can be sure that the electricity supply in Bali
will be Pretty Likely Nackered for some time to come.
Phil Wilson
Phil Wilson a project director for Focus Indonesia and a partner
of MrFixit property maintenance services. Opinions expressed
are those of Phil Wilson. If you have any questions or comments
related to property maintenance he can be contacted at the
office on 0361 288 789 or through the website at www.mrfixitbali.com
Copyright@2007 Fixed Abode
You can read all past articles of Fixed Abode
at www.BaliAdvertiser.biz
