The Meaning of Electricity for Tanjung Boleng Villagers of East Nusa Tenggara

MINISTRY OF ENERGY AND MINERAL RESOURCES

REPUBLIC OF INDONESIA

PRESS RELEASE

NUMBER: 206.Pers/04/SJI/2020

Date: 12 June 2020

The Meaning of Electricity for Tanjung Boleng Villagers of East Nusa Tenggara

A feeling of happiness is expressed by Paul (50), a villager of Tanjung Boleng, Boleng Sub-regency, West Manggarai Regency of East Nusa Tenggara (NTT) Province. He and his fellow villagers can now smile broadly and engage in many activities longer at night now that their village has electricity.

In total, there are 64 family heads in Tanjung Boleng who now enjoy electricity after PT PLN (Persero) connected their village to the grid.

Paul said the villagers had eagerly waited for electricity connection. Previously, they had used generators and kerosene lamps for lighting at night. They are now happy because electricity connection has made the energy cost lower than it used to be.

"When there was no electricity from PLN, the majority of villagers' activities in Tanjung Boleng used lighting from generator and kerosene lights. We spent about Rp 50,000 per day to buy oil fuels, excluding maintenance cost if the machine broke down. Now that we get electricity from PLN, we buy electricity token worth Rp 50,000; we can use the token for over a month and the quota is not used up although our night activities are longer," said Paul who was agreed by Tanjung Boleng Village Head, Hamzah. Hamzah hopes the electricity connection can boost his people's economic activities.

The electricity that Paul and the people of Tanjung Boleng now enjoy is in line with the government's effort to continue to increase electrification ratio, especially in areas without electricity access.

"Currently, the increase of electrification ratio is focused on frontier, outermost, and underdeveloped (3T) areas. However, equal distribution must go with affordable electricity tariff," said Head of Bureau of Communication, Public Information Services, and Cooperation of Ministry of EMR, Agung Pribadi, on a separate occasion in Jakarta (12/6). Until May 2020, the Ratio of Electrified Villages in NTT was 93.32%, while Electrification Ratio 86.26%.

PLN's General Manager of East Nusa Tenggara Main Unit, Ignatius Rendroyoko, through the company's release stated that in order to provide electricity to Boleng Village, PLN developed JTM (Medium Voltage Network) of 15.26 kms, JTR (Low Voltage Network) 10.04 kms, and 3 substation with a total capacity 150 kVa. Difficult terrain and access have been a challenge to PLN to provide electricity for the village. (IY)

Head of Bureau of Communication, Public Information Services, and Cooperation

Agung Pribadi (08112213555)

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