Govt Protects People through Electricity Subsidy

MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

PRESS RELEASE

NUMBER: 331.Pers/04/SJI/2020

Date: 3 November 2020

Govt Protects People through Electricity Subsidy

The government offers electricity subsidy to protect people who are entitled to the subsidy. This is in line with the mandate of Law Number 30 of 2007 on Energy and Law Number 30 of 2009 on Electricity, which both state that subsidies are offered by the government to the poor.

Policies for well-targeted electricity subsidy had been discussed in Work Meetings with Commission VII of DPR RI (House of Representatives) since 2015, but implementation had only began on January 1st, 2017.

This statement was made by Director of Electricity Business Fostering of Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (EMR), Hendra Iswahyudi, in a discussion titled "Continuing the Reform of Well-Targeted Electricity Subsidy Policy after the Covid-19 Pandemic to Improve People's Welfare". The discussion which was held via Zoom application was organized by Directorate General of Electricity and the TNP2K (National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation).

"The long journey we've made since 2015 has been quite fruitful. Right from the beginning, we've shown our concern and so have the TNP2K; Ministry of Social Affairs has also work jointly with the team. The DTKS (Integrated Social Welfare Data) have been updated quarterly. We need to work together so that the updating is clear and clean that it won't be taken issue with," said Hendra on Tuesday (3/11/2020).

The integrated data used as the basis for targeted electricity subsidy come from the DTKS. These data contain information on 40% of population groups with the lowest socioeconomic status. The updating of the DTKS aims to improve the targeting of social protection programs.

"We'd like to ask the support of TNP2K, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, and other stakeholders so that we can broaden public understanding that the gap between generation costs and tariffs (of electricity) is actually quite wide. The government has the duties to offer subsidy and protect the less fortunate, but we have to focus on those groups who are top priority," Hendra explained.

Hendra underlined that the government also continues to provide subsidies for small and businesses industries to support the economy.

Similar to Hendra, Executive Secretary of TNP2K, Bambang Widianto, said that subsidies are intended for people who are entitled. According to Bambang, after the targeted electricity subsidy policy was implemented in 2017, the government has been able to increase the budget for free electricity installation, which was previously a barrier to electricity access for the poor.

"The budget for free electricity installation for the poor in 2019 was Rp6 trillion, while the electrification ratio has been on the increase. When we have more money, it can be used for something productive and people who cannot afford electricity will be better served," said Bambang.

To support the implementation of targeted electricity subsidy policy and to respond to complaints from people who feel they are entitled to receive electricity subsidies, Ministry of EMR together with Coordinating Ministry for Human Development and Culture, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Social Affairs, TNP2K, and PT PLN (Persero) have developed website http://subsidi.djk.esdm.go.id/ and mobile application PEDULI to receive complaints about electricity subsidy entitlement.

People who are less fortunate and feel that they are entitled to receive electricity subsidies (but they do not receive any) can file a complaint about their entitlement to targeted electricity subsidies through the 'Desa/Kelurahan' (Village) office. The complaint will be forwarded to the 'Kecamatan' (Sub-regency) office to be keyed into the subsidi.djk.esdm.go.id, and forwarded to Central Command Post (consisting of Ministry of EMR, Ministry of Social Affairs, Ministry of Home Affairs, TNP2K, and PT PLN (Persero). A complaint entered by the 'Kecamatan' into the website will automatically be compared with the DTKS of Ministry of Social Affairs to determine whether or not the person making the complaint is entitled to receive subsidy. If the person/household is listed in the integrated data, PT PLN (Persero) will follow up by changing the person/household customer status to subsidized customer. Meanwhile, the public can immediately and independently discover their electricity subsidy entitlement through the PEDULI mobile application. (IY)

Head of Bureau of Communication, Public Information Services, and Cooperation

Agung Pribadi (08112213555)

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