One may question the correlation between power, related to electricity, and poverty, which talks about human suffering. Electricity which is one of the necessities for human needs either for lighting, generating industries or office equipments, is now one of the hot topics in the country.
The government, as has been publicly announced, is set to increase the basic power tariff (TDL) for users of 900 volt-amperes (VA) and above as of July 1.
It means, beginning next month, the electricity users will have to pay more than they did before.
Consequently, this sort of policy triggered reactions from the public, either home owners or, particularly, businesses and NGOs.
What makes things worse, that the rise scheme in which the government has decided to set an average increase of electricity rates between 10 and 15 percent and to cap its planned increase of electricity rates for industries at 18 percent.
The latter, therefore, especially those in the industrial sector and in small and medium entrepreneurs had previously complained that the cost of electricity hike that they had to pay was bigger in reality than the average increase of the TDL.
The threat of layoffs is looming, in particular, in the labor-intensive medium and smaller industries as these sectors employ millions of workers. The average increase of 10 percent TDL, according to a study conducted by energy research association ReforMiner Institute, will lower industry’s need for workers by 1.17 percent, and consequently, more than 1 million workers could be affected (The Jakarta Post, June 30).
Meanwhile, the country’s present uncertain and extreme weather has indirectly and significantly affected the farmers and fishermen’s products, and increased the prices of certain basic commodities such as rice, vegetables, chili, for example.
These, to a certain extent, will affect the government program in poverty alleviation as people such as factory workers, farmers and fishermen will face further difficulties in addition to an already hard life.
An illustration of the poverty condition, given by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS)’s head Rusman Heriawan states that up to March 2010 it stands at 31.02 million, and has seen a slowing pace of 0.83 percent as indicated in the March 2009-March 2010 period figure compared to the March 2008-March 2009, which stood at 1.27 percent (or 13.33 percent). This, according to Heriawan, means the national poverty target of 11 percent will likely be difficult to achieve (Kompas, July 12).
On the other hand, Anggito Abimanyu, in his statement (Republika, July 16) titled “Electricity for whom?” questions the export of coal and gas (two of among other important materials to generate electricity) that has caused a huge state subsidy of the national electricity which, in the 2010 fiscal-year alone, stands at Rp 55.1 trillion (around US$6.2 billion) and the TDL hike of between 11-18 percent, he said, would only save Rp 5 trillion ($550 million).
Therefore, in order for the government to be successful in alleviating poverty and expediting industrial growth, a new policy on energy should be revisited by, again, quoting Anggito Abimanyu, utilizing the nation’s wealth for the greatest possible prosperity of the people as mandated in the state constitution.
That way, making inexpensive electricity tariffs by the state power company PT PLN, would be achieved by reducing or even ceasing the export of coal and gas and using them instead, for generating electricity.
M. Rusdi
Jakarta
