Indonesia U-turn on plan to install electric stoves for poor

The Indonesian government at the end of September announced a mandatory country-wide campaign to change subsidized Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) stoves to electric stoves for lower income households but reversed this decision a few days later.

Initially, Darmawan Prasodjo, director, State Electricity Company (PLN) which handled the operation, said the plan was to go clean and green with a more sustainable energy source, and with the switch to electricity, it can save the government IDR 330 billion (US$21.5 million).  During the trial stage, electric stoves worth IDR 1.8 million had been given to hundreds of thousands of households in the province of Bali and Solo city.

Electric stove. Photo credit: PLN

However, apparently there was a lot of backlashes from residents and it resulted in the U-turn. Rahmawati, a housewife who stays in Sidoarjo, told Maritime Fairtrade she was glad to see the end of electric stoves.

“I am concerned about the power usage of electric stoves.  The power in my house is only 900 Volt-Amperes (VA) but the electric stove uses more power than that. Do I have to turn off all electrical devices including the lights if I want to cook? Why didn’t the government think about this practical issue?” Rahmawati said.

Nur Suci, another housewife in Sidoarjo, said sarcastically: “This is a good plan and I agree with the government, only if everything is provided free, like the Regent of Sidoarjo pays for the power upgrade in my house and my monthly electricity bill. Now, only the electric stove is free. We are going through financial hardship right now. Why is the government adding on to our burden? Government policies should improve the welfare of the people.”  

A resident uses electric stove. Photo credit: PLN

Bima Arya, an environmental researcher from Surabaya, said he was surprised by the government’s reason for converting to electric stoves. According to him, it was not clean and green to use electric stoves because the majority of electricity in Indonesia is generated from Steam Power Plants (PLTU), which use a lot of coal.  If the plan is fully implemented, there will definitely be a drastic increase in demand for more coal. 

Indonesia U-turn on plan to install electric stoves for poor
Steam power plant in Paiton. Photo credit: Probolinggo Regency government

He added if the government is serious about tapping into a sustainable energy source, it should start upstream with power generation at power plants first as it will be a waste of time at downstream.  He also questioned why the government did not prioritize the use of natural gas owned by the State Gas Company (PGN) for households. 

“Gas from PGN is much cleaner and greener than electricity from PLN. The government should improve the infrastructure of gas lines to reach poor households,” Bima said.

Gas pipe and meter. Photo credit: Ibnu Wibowo

However, Wawan Widodo, energy researcher, was disappointed with the U-turn because he thinks Indonesia is over-relying on the import of LPG which right now is supplying 70 percent of national needs.  He wants the switch to electricity so Indonesia can buy less LPG from foreign sources. According to him, each household can save IDR 8,000 per kilogram of LPG if they switch to using electric stoves.  

Subsidized LPG. Photo credit: Pertamina

Top photo credit: Pexels/Kamaji Ogino

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