Surabaya DPRD Highlights Household Customers' Gas Bill Fees Rising Without Socialization

SURABAYA - Commission B for the Economy of the DPRD Surabaya highlighted the rising cost of gas consumption bills for household customers in the City of Heroes, East Java, which was assessed as a lack of socialization to customers.

Deputy Chairman of Commission B of the Surabaya DPRD, Anas Karno, said that his party regretted the State Gas Company (PGN) for raising bills to household customers at the beginning of the economic recovery period due to the pandemic.

"People's economic income has just started to move slightly, but suddenly bills to customers went up without confirmation from customers," he said, quoted by Antara, Thursday, December 16.

According to him, many PGN customers complain about this, so his party brought this issue up in a hearing at Commission B on Wednesday, December 15.

During the meeting, he continued, it was found that there was a security deposit on PGN's gas bills to consumers which lasted for 3 months. It's just that, he continued, many consumers do not know the meaning of the security deposit.

According to him, PGN should explain to consumers when installing the payment scheme, the security deposit is taken when it runs for 3 months, multiplied by 2 divided by the average gas user.

"If there is no notification, it will eventually grow up behind," he said.

In addition, Anas discovered that there was a PGN consumer bill of Rp. 2 million. He suggested an option for payment in installments.

"Because many people use this (PGN gas) MBR (Low Income Community, ed)," he said.

Anas explained that there was no reduction in billing prices to PGN consumers, which is a rule and mechanism from the Central Government.

"It depends on Surabaya, what kind of policy, if you object, it will be paid in installments, like that," he said.

Anas admitted that he had received complaints from a number of residents, some of whom had stopped subscribing to PGN gas.

Area Head of PGN Surabaya and surrounding areas, Arief Nurrachman, previously said that there were about 45 thousand PGN customers, and among them there may be residents who have not been informed about the tariff increase.

"We understand and we understand that, but that is not an excuse either, we are still massively conducting socialization to the people who use natural gas," he said.

He admitted, from 2007 to 2021 the price of PGN gas did not increase, while for operations it did. In fact, he continued, gas prices for the household sector are still competitive with LPG.

"There is still a saving cost (saving expenses) from the use of 20-30 percent, from the use of LPG itself," he said.

Regarding the high cost of consumer billing, Arief said, it will be seen in PGN's system, by entering the customer id. From there, you will see the cubic meters used, gas prices, and several other items.

"We hope that the public can understand this condition. Our hope is not only in the city of Surabaya, but also in Sidoarjo and Gresik," he said.