The Gasoline Problem

It was few months ago when the government started the campaign to reduce the consumption of subsidized gasoline. Not very long after that, there are many "fuel pump" problems. Fuel pumps get clogged and even burnt. Many found that there is something wrong with the gasoline (at least their preliminary conclusion). Not very long after that two big taxi operators also reported that hundreds not to mention thousands cars of their fleet also have fuel pump problems. This creates suspicion to the government. Many says that government through state owned oil company try to reduce the consumption of subsidized fuel (gasoline) by putting something bad in the liquid.

All the allegations have not been proved. No one still can not prove that either government or state own company or even the car user or the fuel station owner played dirty. The state own company defended it self to being strict to the standard. Everything come out from their refineries or central distribution points are tested according to the regulation and standard. There are no violations what so ever. Taxi operators even sent the fuel sample to an independent lab in Thailand for a test and the lab showed that the gasoline has too much sulfur content. Sulfur content is always a problem for the diesel fuel here in Indonesia. The quality of diesel fuel is not so clean. Sulfur content is a bit high so that advance common rail systems would not drink it. I am a bit afraid that the fuel station wrongly refuel the underground tanks. The one usually for diesel fuel is refilled with gasoline. They mix and increase sulfur content in the gasoline. But, how likely this is in reality? I guess zero.

Only the Bill that Makes People Worry....

world cup has made a slight increase on the power demand. world cup finals in south africa are played at night in Indonesia. time difference of approximately 4-6 hours between south africa and indonesia (jakarta) has created this situation. during the group matches the games are played between 6 p.m. to around 11 p.m. Indonesian time. In the knock out phase, the games are played between 9 p.m. to around 3 a.m. and semi finals are played at even later time. they starts at 1.30 a.m.. I guess the final will also be played at around 1.30 a.m..

for football fans, the knock out round, semi finals and final are the most interesting rounds of the world cup finals. this has made them stay awake longer than before. the longer those tvs on, the more electricity is consumed. however there are also people that prefer watching the matches with friends or colleagues. this means they watch the tv not at home and maybe only one tv on for, let's say 5-10 people. this has made significant power saving compared to one tv for 1-2 people only. In Indonesia, only the national broadcaster that broadcast the matches. sattelite or pay tv customers are not able to see it via the subscription tv. this might further reduce the possibilities of more tv to be on at late night.

Not the Right Time

Currently Indonesia is experiencing a strange climate condition. It is already July now and in July usually we have dry season with very very little rain. Instead of being very hot and dry, there are still rains throughout Indonesia. The meteorological bureau says that the anomaly is caused by La Nina phenomenon which extend the rainy season in Indonesia.