Print

 

Textile and textile product industry players regret the government's plan to increase the basic electricity tariff (TDL) for customers of 3,000 volt amperes (VA) and above amid rising production costs due to fluctuations in global raw material prices. The government's signal to increase TDL this year is also considered by the textile and textile product industry to be inappropriate during the national economic recovery period. Secretary General of the Indonesian Fiber and Filament Yarn Producers Association (APSyFI) Redma Gita Wirawasta is concerned that the government's maneuver will add to the burden on the domestic textile industry, which has not yet fully recovered from the Covid-19 pandemic.

"Actually, the reason why PLN has to increase electricity prices, until now PLN has not been open to its customers, although on several occasions we have asked many times," said Redma, Thursday (19/5/2022).

In fact, added Redma, the increase in TDL is often not accompanied by an improvement in service quality. In a month, on average there are five trips with a span of five to one minute. He regretted that the quality of electricity services did not always keep pace with the increase in electricity costs.

"Even premium customers whose prices per kWh are far above ordinary customers still have to experience trips," he said.

It is known, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Indrawati stated that the government was prepared to increase electricity tariffs for customers above 3,000 VA. The proposal was approved by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) at a cabinet meeting.

This was conveyed by Sri Mulyani at the Working Meeting of the Budget Board of the House of Representatives (Raker Banggar DPR) regarding the approval of additional budget needs in response to rising commodity prices. The meeting takes place on Thursday.

Sri Mulyani explained that the high price of energy and commodities caused the burden of subsidies and energy compensation to also increase. The need for subsidies and compensation to withstand fluctuations in commodity prices in 2022 was recorded at Rp443.6 trillion.

The government has prepared an electricity subsidy budget of Rp. 56.5 trillion, assuming an Indonesian crude price (ICP) of US$ 63 per barrel. After the ICP price increased to US$ 100 per barrel, the electricity subsidy needed to be Rp. 59.6 trillion, so there was a difference of Rp. 3.1 trillion.

"The President at the cabinet meeting has agreed that the burden of household groups that can be represented for fiscal electricity subscriptions above 3,000 VA may result in an increase in electricity prices, only for that segment and above," Sri Mulyani said on Thursday.