ESDM Confirms No 450 VA Power Removal

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Yesterday, the issue of the abolition of 450 VA electricity was widely discussed by the public. Responding to this issue, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) confirmed that it has no plans to eliminate 450 VA electric power. The idea was unilateral from the DPR’s Budget Agency (Banggar).

“Today, we issue a release, that there is no elimination of 450 VA electric power, it does not exist,” explained the Acting Director General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Dadan Kusdiana when met at the event ‘The 8th Indonesia International Geothermal Convention & Exhibition 2022 at the JCC, Wednesday ( 14/9/2022).

Previously, the issue of removing 450 VA electricity came from the mouth of the Speaker of the House of Representatives Banggar, Said Abdullah, who stated that his party had agreed to switch the 450 VA electricity to 900 Va. This is an effort to boost the electricity consumption of PT PLN (Persero) which is currently experiencing oversupply.

However, the Acting Director General of Electricity Dadan Kusdiana said that indeed in a working meeting with Banggar, the Head of Banggar said that. But the government did not discuss this matter and there was no confirmation or answer regarding the discourse on the abolition of 450 VA electricity that came out of the mouth of the Banggar Chair.

“It’s not uncoordinated, but one-sided. I think it’s a proposal. I think it’s good in terms of the initiative. But this needs to be discussed, it needs to be in Commission VII of the DPR, President Jokowi’s support is needed in the cabinet,” said Dadan.

“And the result, why do I say it’s not a decision because, in the Banggar results, the subsidy is following what is now. So there is no change. Nothing,” he said.

As previously reported, PLN is currently experiencing an oversupply of 6 Giga Watt (GW) of electricity. It’s not enough to stop there, next year there will be a new power plant that will operate and result in an additional oversupply of 1.4 GW to 7.4 GW.

Not to mention, the government is promoting electricity production from New and Renewable Energy. Said noted that if electricity from NRE was still in 2030, the possibility of oversupply of electricity faced by PLN could increase to 41 GW.

“You can imagine that 1 GW is because it takes or pays, you have to pay Rp. 3 trillion. So in my opinion why don’t we make a decision today in terms of policy, the first is our legacy together. For the poor, vulnerable to the poor, Below the poverty line, there can no longer be 450 VA,” Said Said.

According to Said, the use of public electricity with a power of 450 VA is outdated. Later, in increasing the power from 450 VA to 900 VA and 1,200 VA, PLN will only need to tinker with metering changes.