The Government Extends Electricity Bill Discounts Until December 2021, Check The Details

Photo illustration (Source: Antara)

JAKARTA - The government has extended the electricity discount until the end of 2021. The government has added IDR 1.19 trillion budget subsidy for the extension of the program.

The announcement was made by Finance Minister Sri Mulyani, in a virtual press conference, Saturday, July 17. Thus, the allocation rose to IDR 9.49 trillion, from the original IDR 7.58 trillion.

"We will extend it throughout the year, until December 2021", said Sri Mulyani.

Sri Mulyani also said that the government had extended the assistance for discounted fees and subscriptions for 1.14 million customers. The discounted assistance, said Sri Mulyani, was a request for small and medium enterprises.

The subsidy for expenses and subscription fees is allocated specifically for IDR 420 billion. So the total budget for minimum account assistance or subscriptions is IDR 2.11 trillion.

Previously, the electricity tariff discount stimulus program for the community and business actors affected by the COVID-19 pandemic was planned to end in September 2021. But now it has been extended.

Since April 2020, the government has provided a stimulus for discounting electricity bills to consumers. The target recipients of the policy are households in the R.1/450 VA tariff group with a 100 percent discount and households in the R.1/900 VA tariff group with a 50 percent discount.

Then for MSME customers consisting of small businesses B.1/450 VA and small industries I.1/450 VA in the form of a 100 percent discount on electricity bills. In addition, there are also electricity discounts for social, business, industrial, and special service customers in the form of exemption from the application of the minimum account requirements (40 hours on) for customers with power of 1.300 VA and above; and exemption from charges or subscriptions for social (220 VA, 450 VA, and 900 VA), business (900 VA) and industrial (900 VA) customers.