Suroso Isnandar Officially Leads PLN
JAKARTA — Indonesia's state-owned electricity company, PT PLN (Persero), has a new leader. Suroso Isnandar was appointed President Director of PLN, replacing Darmawan Prasodjo, through an extraordinary general meeting of shareholders (RUPSLB) held online via Zoom on Wednesday (10/14/2026) starting at 6:30 p.m. Jakarta time.
"Yes, a change of president director. Mr. Darmawan has been replaced by Mr. Suroso," said PLN Independent Commissioner Andi Arief. The change was also confirmed by Danantara Chief Operating Officer Dony Oskaria. "Mr. Darmawan has been replaced by Mr. Suroso. Meanwhile Mr. Suroso as president director will retain his previous post until a replacement is found," Dony explained.
Summoned by Prabowo to the Palace Before Appointment
Before the shareholder meeting, Suroso attended a closed-door meeting at Merdeka Palace in Jakarta led directly by President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday afternoon. The meeting was also attended by Coordinating Minister for Downstreaming and Energy Transition Bahlil Lahadalia and Danantara Indonesia CEO Rosan Roeslani.
The discussion covered strategic developments in the energy sector, including the Oil and Gas Bill (RUU Migas), evaluations of power disruptions in several regions, and fuel supply and distribution conditions. President Prabowo pushed for a comprehensive transformation of PLN, from business governance reform and stronger efficiency and productivity, to reducing the state subsidy burden and accelerating the use of solar power plants with 100 gigawatts of capacity.
Profile: ITB Doctorate With Three Decades in Power
Suroso is no stranger to PLN. Born in Klaten on August 12, 1971, he has a strong academic record in power systems. He completed his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering (Power System Engineering) at Institut Teknologi Bandung (ITB) in 1994, earned a Master of Science from the University of Abertay, UK, in 1999, and finished his doctoral studies in Electrical Engineering at ITB with cum laude honors in March 2025.
His professional career began at ScottishPower Generation in Scotland (2002–2007) before he dedicated himself to PLN. He served as General Manager of PLN's Sulawesi Generation and Transmission Main Unit (2019–2021), General Manager of the Java-Madura-Bali Load Dispatch Center (2021–2022), Head of the Digital and Information Technology Unit (2022–2023), Director of Risk Management (from September 2023), and Director of Project Management and New & Renewable Energy (from June 2025).
Supply Reliability Challenges Await
Under his new leadership, Suroso faces the challenge of strengthening the reliability of the electricity system. Power disruptions in several regions have drawn attention, including the blackout in Batam triggered by a technical fault in a transformer. Suroso confirmed that Batam's power grid has now fully returned to normal, while the normalization of the network in the Bintan area is still being completed in stages.
He also said PLN would review its electrical facility maintenance schemes to guarantee supply resilience amid surging electricity demand. According to Andi Arief, the change of president director was not accompanied by changes to other board positions, and there were no special considerations from shareholders behind the leadership change.
