Government Revokes 450 VA Electricity

The government through the Budget Agency (Banggar) of the DPR RI agreed to eliminate the use of 450 VA (Volt Ampere) electricity and will switch to 900 VA electricity. Meanwhile, people who use 900 VA electricity will be diverted to 1,200 VA electricity. These 450 and 900 VA electricity customers are poor and receive subsidies from the government.

Chairman of the Banggar DPR Said Abdullah at the DPR Building said, “That earlier (Monday 12/9/2022) one of the policies taken was to increase 450 VA to 900 VA for poor households and 900 VA to 1,200 VA without being associated with electric stoves. We agree with the government,”

The intention of the government and the House of Representatives to eliminate the use of electricity for 450 is intended to absorb electricity belonging to PT PLN (Persero), which is currently experiencing an oversupply.

Said noted that 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According to Said, the use of public electricity with a power of 450 VA is outdated.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.

“So it doesn’t cost anything,” he said.

Furthermore, the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources (ESDM) ensures that the transfer of use will not revoke electricity subsidies for users.

The Acting Director General of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Dadan Kusdiana, stated that according to his understanding, the abolition of the use of 450 VA power and switching to 900 VA was not an agreement.

“The complete narrative is that the subsidy must be more targeted, including for the 450 VA group,” said Dadan, quoted on Tuesday (13/9/2022).

What is clear, said Dadan, is that subsidies for electricity are given to people who can’t afford it. The grouping of underprivileged people refers to data from the Social Welfare Integrated Data (DTKS) of the Ministry of Social Affairs (Kemensos). The main thing is. “There is no reduction in subsidies,” said Dadan.