Electricity Supply during the Covid-19 Pandemic Stands by 5 Principles

MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

PRESS RELEASE

NUMBER: 286.Pers/04/SJI/2020

Date: 23 September 2020

Electricity Supply during the Covid-19 Pandemic Stands by 5 Principles

Meeting the electricity needs during the Covid-19 pandemic is one of the concerns of the Indonesian government. To maintain a balance between electricity supply and demands in the community, the government stands by the 5K principles, which stands for Kecukupan, Keandalan, Keberlanjutan, Keterjangkauan, dan Keadilan (Adequate, Reliable, Sustainable, Affordable, and Equitable).

Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources (EMR) Arifin Tasrif said that the 5K principles will be maximized in the adoption of electricity policies during the pandemic, because the outbreak of the pandemic has quite heavily hit the cash flow of the State Electricity Company PLN quite due to the imbalance between income and operating costs.

"To realize the 'Adequate' principle, the government has tried to implement planning for national electricity demand, including to ensure that the 35,000 MW program can run. The 'Reliable' principle is closely related to the quality of electricity supply by utilizing technology (sensors) for power plants' efficiency," said Minister Tasrif at PLN's International Conference on Technology and Policy in Electric Power and Energy (ICT-PEP) 2020 held on Wednesday (23/9).

The next principle, Mr. Tasrif continued, is the 'Sustainable' principle, which means promoting the use of new, renewable energy, for example by installing rooftop solar systems. The 'Affordable' principle refers to the government's efforts to offer competitive electricity prices so that all layers of the society have access to electricity. Finally, the 'Equitable' principle means prioritizing equitable access to electricity by raising the electrification ratio.

Mr. Tasrif said that the pandemic had lowered electricity consumption in June 2020 by minus 7.06% compared to that in January 2020. The fall occurred in 8 power grids, namely West Sumatra (-7.12%), South and Southeast Sulawesi (-7.68 %), Bali (-32.87%), East Java (-6.33%), Central Java (-6.28%), West Java (-10.57%), Banten (-12.82%), and Greater Jakarta & Tangerang Distribution (-5.62%).

One of the government's efforts to lift the purchasing power of the household, industrial, and business sectors is to provide an economic stimulus in the form of electricity tariff discounts to more than 33 million of PLN customers, which terms and conditions are set by the government. "This assistance is of temporary nature, and it's a form of state presence, especially for those who are most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic," said Mr. Tasrif.

However, nationwide electricity consumption has grown positively by 5.46% year on year (yoy) in the period June 2019-June 2020. The industrial sector (41%) and households (37.45%) are still the main support for the realization of per capita electricity consumption, followed by the business sector (15.71%) and the public (5.84%). (IY)

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