The Viral Electricity Rates Of 900 VA And 1,300 VA Have Risen, The Minister Of Energy And Mineral Resources Affirms This Is Not True

Illustration. (Photo: Instagram @pln_id)

JAKARTA - The virtual world is shocked by the viral complaints of non-subsidized electricity customers who claim that their electricity bills have risen. The Indonesian Parliament questioned this matter to the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Arifin Tasrif.

A member of Commission VII from the PKB faction, Ratna Juwita, asked for an explanation regarding the viral video containing complaints from non-subsidized customers on R.1 / 900 VA and R.1 / 1.300 VA on social media, claiming to use electricity as usual, but the bill actually went up.

Ratna is skeptical, cross-subsidies from PT PLN (Persero) are given to subsidized customers and the discount is taken from those who do not get a discount. This means that the subsidies for R.1 / 450 VA and R.1 / 900 VA for the poor are covered by R.1 / 900 and R.1 / 1.300 VA for the well-off class customers.

"Do not let the public have negative opinions to anticipate PLN. Also think about state revenue from the reduction in electricity consumption," he said, in a virtual working meeting (Raker) of Commission VII with the Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources, Monday, May 4.

Responding to this, Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Arifin Tasrif said that currently the government can only provide relief for household customers R.1 / 450 VA and R.1 / 900 VA. This is because to subsidize these two groups of customers, the incentive value reaches IDR 40.5 trillion.

Until now, said Arifin, the government's calculation of funds is still sufficient to provide subsidies until June. However, if it is more than that, there must be new thinking and the government needs to find a balance of funding sources.

"For this reason, please understand. The government is implementing this policy in anticipation that it will take place in three months," he explained.

Arifin emphasized that the rates that apply to customers are in accordance with the groups that have been recorded both at PLN and there is no tariff increase for the non-subsidized group.

Furthermore, Arifin said that the government is currently working to reduce the cost of electricity production by converting diesel generators to gas. According to him, this could cut production costs from 6 US dollars (US) to 8.5 US dollars. Not only that, it is even estimated that it can provide burden reduction benefits of up to hundreds of trillions.

On the other hand, Arifin said, related to the possibility of compensation for non-subsidized customers or the poor, namely R.1 / 900 VA, R.1 / 1.300 VA and R.1 / 2.200 VA, it is still difficult for the government to do.

"The allocation of funds from the government is inadequate and PLN's financial position is not in a favorable condition," he explained.

Previously, Arifun revealed, currently there are 38 groups of electricity tariffs, consisting of 25 subsidized tariff groups and 13 non-subsidized tariff groups. Of the 25 subsidized tariff groups, there are poor and vulnerable groups of poor and vulnerable households R 1/450 VA and R.1 / 900 VA underprivileged with 23.9 million and 7.3 million subscribers, respectively.

Meanwhile, for the R.1 / 900 VA group, which is included in wealthy households, there are around 22.7 million subscribers. Meanwhile, R.1 / 1,300 VA is around 11.6 million subscribers.

"The total household customers are around 70.1 million," he said.

The government has made a policy to provide discounts on electricity bills for 3 months from April to June. Where R.1 / 450 VA customers get a 100 percent discount and R.1 / 900 VA cannot afford a 50 percent discount.