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Jokowi wants electricity subsidy well-targeted
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President Joko Widodo and Vice President Jusuf Kalla lead a limited Cabinet meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on June 22. (Presidential Secretariat/ Laily Rachev)
P
resident Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has instructed relevant ministries to formulate a well-targeted electricity subsidy so that the state subsidizes only those who really needed it, such as low-income people and the poor.
The President gave the instruction just a week after the government postponed a plan to stop subsidizing 17.9 million households who use 900 watts or less of electricity.
"I want to reiterate once more that the subsidy must be well-targeted so we can allocate more funds to accelerate 35,000 power plant project that will benefit the people," he said during a limited meeting at the Presidential Office in Jakarta on Wednesday.
Jokowi urged the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry to verify and validate the status of recipients who deserved subsidized electricity based on a single data source.
Previously, a survey held by the ministry, state-owned electricity firm PLN and the National Team for the Acceleration of Poverty Reduction (TNP2K) showed that only 4.1 million of the registered 900-watt customers were eligible for the subsidy.
The electricity rate for customers signed up for only 900 watts is currently Rp 585 per kilowatt hours (kWh), compared to the non-subsidized household rate of Rp 1,364 per kWh. (ags)
