Jakarta, Indonesia Sentinel — The Indonesian government will provide a 50% discount on electricity rates for households as part of an economic stimulus package tied to the upcoming Value-Added Tax (VAT) hike to 12% in January 2025.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati announced the measure during a press conference at the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs in Jakarta on Monday, December 16. The discount aims to ease the financial burden on households as they face increased expenses due to the higher VAT rate.
According to CNN Indonesia, Sri Mulyani said the policy will apply to households with electricity usage of 2,200 Volt-Amperes (VA) or below. The discount will be in effect for two months, in January and February 2025.
Sri Mulyani said the discount will benefit 81.4 million households across Indonesia, accounting for 97% of PLN’s total 84 million residential customers. She emphasized that the program is funded through the State Budget (APBN) to ensure public welfare remains protected.
State-owned electricity provider PLN (Persero) expressed full support for the policy, ensuring the discount would be applied automatically without requiring customer registration. PLN President Director Darmawan Prasodjo highlighted the company’s advanced digitalized customer database as a key enabler of the program.
“We are fully prepared to implement this policy. With PLN’s digitalized customer service system, customers will not need to deal with complicated registration processes,” Darmawan said on Tuesday, December 17, as reported by DetikFinance.
How the 50% Discount Will Be Applied
For postpaid customers, the 50% discount will be automatically applied to monthly bills for January and February. Prepaid customers, meanwhile, will receive the discount when purchasing electricity tokens during the same period.
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“For postpaid customers, the bill will automatically reflect a 50% reduction when payment is made. For prepaid customers, the 50% discount will be directly applied when purchasing tokens, whether through the PLN Mobile app, retail stores, agents, or any other platform,” Darmawan explained.
Darmawan encouraged customers to contact PLN’s designated service centers for further information regarding the stimulus program.
Finance Minister Sri Mulyani emphasized that the electricity rate discount is part of the government’s broader efforts to cushion the impact of the VAT hike and sustain economic momentum.
(Raidi/Agung)
