Fajarasia.co – The government’s plan to increase electricity rates for customers of the 3,000 volt ampere (VA) class and above continues to receive attention in public spaces.
Responding to this, the Chairperson of the Indonesian House of Representatives, Puan Maharani, said that the proposed policy on the increase in electricity rates would be discussed according to the mechanism by the relevant commission. Thus, whether the increase is considered feasible or not will be determined by the relevant commission.
“Of course what was asked will be discussed in accordance with the mechanism in the respective commissions,” said Puan, at the Parliament Complex, Senayan, Tuesday (24/5/2022).
For this reason, Puan has not been able to conclude or have an opinion early on whether the policy of increasing electricity rates can be approved or not. Therefore, the reason for the increase in electricity rates must be known in depth.
In this case, Puan just wants to respect every process that runs according to the rules in the DPR RI, that there must be a discussion beforehand from each of the relevant commissions.
“So how, whether it is approved or not, of course after going through discussions at the relevant commission,” said Puan.
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.*****
