balivillacarePLN token or postpaid meter: what it means for a villa
Key takeaways
- Permen ESDM No. 7 Tahun 2024 sets two ways to pay PLN: regular or prepaid. The rate per kWh is the same in both.
- The difference is the minimum bill: 40 hours at full connected capacity, attached in the regulation to the regular (postpaid) column only.
- For a villa that stands empty for weeks, that minimum is a real cost: IDR 1,121,690 a month on a 16.5 kVA household connection, worked from the formula.
- A prepaid meter has no minimum, but it stops when the credit runs out — someone has to watch the balance.
- The regency taxes the token purchase too: 7% in Badung, 10% in Denpasar.
Every guide to PLN tokens explains how to buy one. For a villa that is let, the question that matters is different: whether the meter should be prepaid at all. The regulation answers the arithmetic half of that.
Seven words on the meter and the receipt
Prepaid and postpaid come with their own vocabulary, and one of the terms — the minimum bill — is the reason this page exists.
| Term | What it is | Why it matters for a villa |
|---|---|---|
| Prabayar, prepaid, “token” | Electricity paid for before use. | The meter runs until the credit does. |
| Pascabayar, postpaid, “reguler” | Electricity paid for after use, by monthly bill. | Carries the minimum bill. |
| Token | The code bought and entered into a prepaid meter. | Taxed by the regency on the amount purchased. |
| Rekening minimum, RM | The postpaid minimum monthly bill. | 40 hours of use at full connected capacity, charged whether used or not. |
| Jam nyala | “Hours on” — kWh in a month divided by connected kVA. | The unit the minimum bill is written in. |
| Daya tersambung | Connected capacity, in VA or kVA. | The bigger the connection, the bigger the minimum. |
| PLN Mobile | PLN's own app. | One of the ways to buy a token or pay a bill. |
Same price per kWh, different floor
Permen ESDM No. 7 Tahun 2024, Pasal 2, defines regular electricity as paid after use and prepaid as paid before use. Its appendices print a rate for each class in both columns, and for the classes a villa is likely to be on, the figures are identical.
Where the difference is
The appendices attach a note to the regular column: Rekening Minimum, a minimum monthly bill of 40 hours of use at the full connected capacity, charged at the class's rate. The prepaid column carries no such note. A postpaid villa that uses less than the minimum in a month pays the minimum anyway.
The minimum bill, worked
The formula is written into the regulation: 40 hours, times the connected kVA, times the rate per kWh. Worked for three illustrative connection sizes, before the regency's tax:
| R-3 household | B-2 business | R-3 with Badung's tax | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6.6 kVA | IDR 448,676 | IDR 381,401 | IDR 480,083 |
| 11 kVA | IDR 747,793 | IDR 635,668 | IDR 800,139 |
| 16.5 kVA | IDR 1,121,690 | IDR 953,502 | IDR 1,200,208 |
These are not usage estimates. They are the least a postpaid connection of that size can be billed in a month, from the regulation's own formula. A villa that uses more than that pays for what it uses and the minimum never bites; a villa that stands empty for a month pays it in full.
The minimum, read as kWh
Because the minimum is written as hours of use at full capacity, it converts straight into energy: 40 hours times the connected kVA is the number of kWh the minimum pays for, whether or not they are used. Spread over a 30-day month, that is the daily use below which a postpaid villa is paying for power it did not draw.
| kWh the minimum pays for | Averaged over 30 days | |
|---|---|---|
| 6.6 kVA | 264 kWh | 9 kWh a day |
| 11 kVA | 440 kWh | 15 kWh a day |
| 16.5 kVA | 660 kWh | 22 kWh a day |
That is the useful test for an owner. If the villa, empty, uses less than the right-hand column — a pool pump on a timer, a fridge, security lights — the minimum is setting the bill in an empty month. If it uses more, the minimum never bites and the meter type makes no difference to the price.
When it matters, and when it does not
For a villa let most of the month, the minimum is academic — usage exceeds it. It matters in low season, during a renovation, and on villas used by their owners a few weeks a year. It also matters when a large connection was specified for a pool and air conditioning that are switched off when the villa is empty. What villas actually yield.
Paying for electricity in the months nobody stays?
Tell us which part of Bali the villa is in. Five questions, and your details are the last step.
The operating side of prepaid
The arithmetic favors prepaid for a villa that is often empty. The operation does not automatically.
The credit runs out on somebody's watch
A prepaid meter stops supplying when the credit is exhausted. In a let villa, that is a guest in the dark at eleven at night unless someone watches the balance. That is a job, and the contract should say whose.
Buying the token
Tokens are sold through PLN's own app and through banks and payment apps. Whoever buys it, the receipt shows the kWh bought for the money paid, which makes a token line on a statement easier to check than a postpaid estimate.
The tax on the token
The regency's PBJT on electricity applies to prepaid purchases as well: Badung's regulation (Pasal 27) makes the amount purchased the base. The rate is 7% in Badung and 10% in Denpasar. The rates and the tax in full.
Long lets
On a long let the question is who pays, and how it is proved.
- Prepaid: the tenant can buy their own tokens and the owner carries nothing in a month the tenant is away.
- Postpaid: the bill arrives in the name on the connection; the lease should say who pays the minimum in a month the tenant uses less.
Long-term letting against nightly.
What this page does not cover
- How to change a connection from postpaid to prepaid, and what PLN charges for it. That is in PLN's technical rules, not read.
- Fees charged by third-party token sellers. These vary by seller and are not in the regulation.
- Whether the class can be changed at the same time. Also PLN's rules.
Common questions
What is a PLN token?
The code that loads credit onto a PLN prepaid meter. Permen ESDM No. 7 Tahun 2024 defines two ways of paying for PLN electricity: regular, paid after use, and prepaid, paid before use. A token is the prepaid purchase.
Is prepaid electricity cheaper than postpaid in Bali?
Not per kWh: the regulation prints the same rate in both columns — IDR 1,699.53 per kWh for households of 6,600 VA and above, IDR 1,444.70 per kWh for business connections of the same size. The difference is the minimum bill, which the regulation attaches to the regular column only.
What is the minimum electricity bill for a villa?
On a postpaid connection, 40 hours of use at the full connected capacity, at the class's rate. For an 11 kVA household connection that is IDR 747,793 a month, worked from the regulation's formula, before the regency's tax. The regulation's prepaid column carries no such note.
Should a rental villa be prepaid or postpaid?
It turns on how often the villa is empty and who tops up. A postpaid connection bills a minimum even in an empty month; a prepaid one does not, but it stops when the credit does, which is a guest-experience problem unless someone watches the balance. The regulation settles the arithmetic; the operating choice is the owner's.
Is there tax on a PLN token?
Yes. The regency's PBJT on electricity is charged on the amount of a prepaid purchase — Badung's regulation says so in Pasal 27 — at 7% in Badung and 10% in Denpasar.
Who buys the token in a managed villa?
Usually the manager, charged back to the owner. Ask for the purchase receipts on the statement: a token has a receipt, and the receipt shows the kWh bought, so the line can be checked against the tariff.
Who pays for electricity on a long let?
Whatever the lease says. A prepaid meter makes it simple for the tenant to pay as they go; a postpaid meter needs the bill reconciled, including the minimum in any month the tenant is away.
Sources cited on this page
- Permen ESDM No. 7 Tahun 2024 — official text, Pasal 2-6 and Lampiran II-III
- Permen ESDM No. 7 Tahun 2024 — BPK record
- UU No. 1 Tahun 2022 — Pasal 58, PBJT on electricity
- Perda Kab. Badung No. 7 Tahun 2023 — Pasal 26-28
- Perda Kota Denpasar No. 5 Tahun 2023 — Pasal 24
Every figure above was read from the source it is attributed to on 20 September 2026. How we check this.