Balancing Energy Subsidies and Free Lunch Program in Indonesia

The government opens the option of switching energy subsidies for the free lunch program. This threatens poor households.

Retno Sulistyowati

March 11, 2024

THE electricity meter panel in the brick-walled house with rough cement plaster continued to beep. The owner of the house, Ma'mun, 49 years old, recognized the sound as a sign that his electricity credit was almost ran out. The resident of Cibogel, Ciomas subdistrict, Bogor Regency, West Java, quickly asked his wife to buy power tokens at a nearby grocery store.

Ma’mun’s wife purchased a 14-kilowatt-hour electricity token for Rp2

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