Jakarta – The government’s policy of distributing hundreds of thousands of electric rice cookers to the poor next year is considered by analysts to be inappropriate because these electric devices cannot replace the function of 3-kilogram LPG canisters. The government through the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) plans to distribute 680,000 units of rice cookers for the poor in 2023.
Gadjah Mada University energy economics analyst Fahmy Radhi said the use of a rice cooker cannot replace 3kg LPG at all. “To cook other food, (poor) people still use gas stoves with 3kg LPG,” he said on the UGM website at the end of November, adding that thus the discourse on distributing rice cookers was not effective.
According to him, households with 450VA electricity installed, cannot use 300VA rice cookers for 24 hours continuously, especially at night when all lights and electronic devices use electricity. Thus, these households must increase their power to 900 VA.
Radhi said, since gas has imported content, and absorbs substantial subsidies, burdening the state budget, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources should prioritise the diversification program for the use of clean energy by migrating from 3kg LPG to clean energy.
He gave an example, adding a gas network (jargas) and accelerating more massive coal gasification should be carried out.
The rice cooker distribution plan, which is funded by the State Budget, will be distributed to regions in Indonesia in 2023. Recipients of the rice cooker program package worth IDR 500,000 per family are planned to be distributed based on data from the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos). (Hartatik)
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