Electricity Tariffs for 3,000 VA Customers Will Rise, This Is What YLKI Says

JAKARTA, KOMPAS.com – Rates electricity for customers of the 3,000 volt ampere (VA) group and above will increase. Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said this increase had been approved by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi).

Related to this, the Daily Executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) Agus Suyatno said, the increase in electricity rates it will not cause serious turmoil in society. Because, the number of customers 3,000 VA and above is not much.

“Electricity consumers in the household group of 3,000 VA and above are relatively small. Thus, the increase in this group will not significantly affect inflation. So it will relatively not cause serious turmoil in the community,” he told Kompas.com quoted on Sunday (22/5/2022).

Read also: Electricity Tariff Increase of 3,000 VA Customers Approved, PLN: We Implement Government Policy

However, Agus assesses that if the reason for the increase in tariffs is to cover the need for subsidies and energy compensation budgets, then it is not appropriate. Because, the power consumption of 3,000 VA and above is a little so that the budget that can be saved from increase in electricity rates it’s not too big.

“If the government increases the tariff for this group on the grounds of patching subsidies, it will certainly not fit. Besides the relatively small number of consumers, the total amount of subsidies and compensation that has been closed is also very large, around Rp 443 trillion in 2022,” he explained.

For information, since 2017 the government has indeed not imposed a tariff adjustment for non-subsidized customers, even though the price of energy commodities has increased.

So the government pays compensation to PLN for the difference between the basic costs of providing electricity issued by PLN and the selling price of electricity set by the government.

Previously, Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati said that initially in the 2022 State Budget there was no budget for electricity compensation. However, this year the government has covered electricity compensation with a budget allocation of Rp 21.4 trillion.

According to him, if there is no compensation from the government and an increase in electricity rates, PLN’s operating cash flow will be in a deficit of up to IDR 71.1 trillion in December 2022.

In fact, PLN needs to maintain a adequacy ratio of operational cash to pay loan principal and interest to lenders at least 1.0x.

Therefore, an increase in electricity rates for non-subsidized customers is considered necessary. This tariff adjustment is also called to share the burden and maintain a sense of justice.

“The President or the cabinet has agreed that to share the burden, for groups of households who can afford it, which is represented by those whose electricity subscriptions are above 3,000 VA, there may be an increase in electricity rates, only in that segment and above,” Sri Mulyani said at the meeting. working with the DPR RI Budget Agency, Thursday (19/5/2022).

Read also: Sri Mulyani Decides Pertalite Prices and Subsidized Electricity Rates Will Not Increase This Year

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