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Electricity rates will not rise until December: Govt
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Workers set up cables for electricity in Banyuwangi, East Java. The government has promised to not increase electricity prices until the end of this year. (JP/Aman rochman)
The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry has guaranteed that electricity prices will not rise until the end of this year.
Minister Ignasius Jonan said that this commitment was in line with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s orders.
“They will stay as they are. We will even try to ask [state-owned electricity firm] PLN if they can increase efficiencies in addition to our predictions that primary energy prices, such as those of coal or gas, will decrease and may help electricity rates also go down,” he said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The rates will remain the same as the prices set in the April to June period. For example, households using 1,300 volt ampere (VA) electricity will be charged Rp 1,467.3 (11 US cents) per kilowatt hour (kWh) until the end of this year.
Read also: PLN cuts subsidies for 19 million householdsJonan also added that the fixed rates would also be applied to households that already receive a subsidy for using 900 VA electricity.
The government has been raising the rates for non-subsidized 900 VA subscribers in three phases starting January this year.
Last year, PLN managed to cut its electricity supply costs (BPP) to Rp 1,265 per kWh from Rp 1,300 in 2015, it’s lowest rate since 2011.
Last year, the firm also managed to increase its efficiency, cutting fuel costs to Rp 22.8 trillion in 2016 from Rp 35 trillion in 2015. (ika)
