No Hike in Electricity Tariff This Year, Gov't Says
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2 July 2019 17:31 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Director-General of Electricity at the Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) Ministry, Rida Mulyana, ensured the electricity tariff would not increase until the end of 2019, albeit the state electricity firm PLN has rights to adjust the tariff every quarter.
“[We] assuredly state that we will not raise the electricity price until the end of 2019,” said Mulyana during a press conference in his office, Jakarta, July 2.
Mulyana quoted the statement conveyed by ESDM Minister Ignasius Jonan, saying that he would impose tariff adjustment in 2020. The tariff adjustment would force the PLN to adjust the electricity price once every three months based on the calculation of rupiah exchange rate, Indonesian Crude Price (ICP), and Indonesian inflation.
The new regulation was aimed at easing State Budget (APBN). “So when the regulation implemented, the tariff will rise or drop depending on the condition,” Mulyana explained.
According to Mulyana, the government had to pay compensation due to the current rising electricity price to PLN. “Hopefully, there will be no compensation after the implementation of the tariff adjustment, and the spending will be a subsidy only,” he added.
Mulyana hoped the stagnant electricity tariff would boost people's purchasing power and improve the industry competition.
EKO WAHYUDI
