Jakarta – Until now there has been no agreement with the legislature nor a plan from the government to remove subsidised electricity customers with 450 VA power and convert them to 900 VA and 1,200 VA, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM), Thursday (15/9).
ESDM Minister Arifin Tasrif, said that the parliament’s budget agency proposal cannot be used as a benchmark. He said the move has to be evaluated properly, especially after the recent fuel price hike.
Clean, Affordable, and Secure Energy for Southeast Asia (CASE)-Institute for Essential Service Reform (IESR) Project Manager Agus P Tampubolon reminded that the increase in electric power to 900 VA would certainly increase the burden on the community. “It should also be remembered that currently the basic electricity tariff (TDL) for a house with a power of 450 VA is cheaper than a house with a power of 900 VA,” he said.
Energy observer from the University of Indonesia, Iwa Garniwa, assessed that removing 450 VA electricity and replacing it with 900 VA would encourage the people’s consumptive nature. He said, with higher consumption when having 900 VA electricity, people will automatically pay for higher electricity.
“Based on the data I have, there are around 30 million people whose (electricity power) is subsidised by the government. If those who use 450 VA increase to 900 VA, there is the potential for more consumptive behaviour by adding electronic equipment,” said Garniwa.
He said that the right solution to overcome this problem is to look at the amount of energy used per month, assuming that customers who use energy as much as 30 KWH per month get subsidies. In other words the amount of usage above 30 KWH does not get subsidies, or pays according to normal (economic) prices. “When purchasing power is low, subsidies are needed to boost purchasing power as the economy improves,” said Garniwa.
The plan to abolish the 450 VA electricity group was proposed by the parliament budgeting agency chairman Said Abdullah. He said, increasing the class of electricity users by removing the 450 VA category will have a positive impact on both the community and PLN, which is currently experiencing an oversupply and has the potential to harm the state-owned electricity company.
Abdullah said, PLN is currently experiencing an oversupply of 6 gigawatts of electricity (GW). In addition, next year there will be new power plants that will operate and result in additional supply of 1.4 GW to 7.4 GW. If electricity from NRE comes in in 2030, he said, the possibility of oversupply of electricity faced by PLN could increase to 41 GW. (Hartatik)
