Increase In Electricity Bills Becomes A Polemic, PLN Communications Considered Poor

JAKARTA - PT Perusahaan Listrik Negara (Persero) or PLN received a lot of criticism regarding the increase in electricity bills which became a polemic in the community. One of the highlights is PLN's poor communication with the public regarding the problem of the electricity bill surge.

Member of Commission VII from the Golkar faction Rudy Mas'ud said the polemic showed PLN's lack of openness in disseminating the electricity bill scheme in the midst of difficult conditions due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Rudy said that PLN should make improvements to the way it communicates with its customers. This is because people also have the right to know how their electricity bills have increased.

"So in my opinion, PLN's discipline and openness are still lacking. Also, there is a lack of communication between PLN friends and customers," he said, in a working meeting of Commission VII with the Managing Director of PLN, Wednesday, June 17.

Meanwhile, a colleague from Rudy's faction, Nasyirul Fallah Amru, actually questioned how PLN would determine the average price that each customer must pay.

Nasyirul said, from the explanation given by PLN, it was not enough to provide answers to public questions. Regarding this matter, he considered, it was natural that the increase in electricity bills would be polemic.

"Now my question is, what is the basis for determining the average price that meter officers cannot go to the field? That is important and must be conveyed to the public. Because this is against the public's logic. Indeed, PLN needs to explain it," he said.

Member of Commission VII from the Gerindra faction, Moreno Soeprapto, asked PLN to evaluate the meter recording system. For example, by changing conventional systems to sophisticated technological systems.

"Especially during a pandemic, it would be difficult for officers to visit customers' homes. People are also paranoid because PLN's governance has dropped from last year. In the future, evaluations with conventional systems can be replaced more practically, so the house doesn't need to be visited by officers," he said.

Moreno assessed that with this more sophisticated system, it is hoped that the regional offices of PLN will be able to find out the increases in electricity bills that can be detected from this system.

During the meeting, President Director of PT PLN Zulkifli Zaini emphasized that the increase in electricity bills on accounts in May and June was not caused by an increase in electricity rates due to cross subsidies. This is because the increase in electricity rates is the government's domain and authority, and PLN only carries out this policy.

"The government has decided since January 2017 that there will be no increase in electricity rates, although based on economic calculations the price of electricity production has changed in the last 3.5 years. This is due to changes in the rupiah exchange rate against the dollar, fuel prices, and inflation during that period. -the average is around 3-4 percent based on the BPS report, "he said.

Furthermore, Zulkifli explained, the increase in electricity bills was also caused by the imposition of large-scale social restrictions (PSBB). So, meter officers do not go down directly to check. So, PLN applies a mechanism to calculate the electricity consumption of customers by using the average bill for the last 3 months on the April and May accounts.

"Apart from that, the meter recording officers also did not record the meter because in several places the villages or sub-districts had closed the total access in and out of non-residents to avoid spreading the virus," he explained.

Zulkifli said that when the PSBB was loosened in June, the PLN meter registering officers had just returned to carrying out the recording. According to him, the recording of meters in May actually resulted in a relatively significant increase for some customers.

According to him, one of the causes of the increase was due to the consumption pattern and activities of residents or customers who were mostly at home because of the work from home rules or work from home during the mid-April to June period.

"Because of that, there is a difference in billing consumption with an average of 3 months. Most of the realization is greater than what was billed. The difference is then charged in June when PLN has made real records, either through meter registers or customer self-reports via WhatsApp. "he said.

Zulkifli said, to deal with complaints from some customers, PLN had made an installment scheme for the increase of more than 20 percent. Although this increases the financial burden of PLN, this step is taken by PLN so that customers do not bear additional burdens due to increased usage.

"Regarding complaints submitted by customers, PLN would like to express their gratitude so that these complaints become a common concern," he said.