Electricity tariffs contribute to largest annual inflation in February 2026

Jakarta — The Deputy for Distribution Statistics and Services at Indonesia’s Statistics Bureau (BPS), Ateng Hartono, reported that electricity tariffs, which experienced inflation of 86.96 per cent year-on-year in February 2026, provided the largest inflation contribution of 2.17 per cent.

Electricity tariffs fall within the housing, water, electricity and household fuel expenditure category. This group experienced annual inflation of 16.19 per cent year-on-year last month, far exceeding the general annual inflation rate recorded at 4.76 per cent year-on-year.

“The main contributor to inflation in February 2026 on a year-on-year basis is the housing, water, electricity and household fuel group with an inflation contribution of 2.26 per cent,” Ateng said in Jakarta on Monday.

He explained that the sharp increase in electricity tariff inflation was caused by price normalisation following the government’s 50 per cent discount provided in January-February 2025.

Beyond electricity tariffs, other commodities in this expenditure group also contributed to inflation, including house rental costs (0.03 per cent), house rental fees (0.02 per cent), household fuel (0.01 per cent), non-supervisor workman rates (0.01 per cent), and PAM tap water tariffs (0.01 per cent).

Ateng noted that outside this expenditure group, other commodities also made significant contributions to annual inflation contributions last month. These included gold jewellery (1.06 per cent), fresh fish (0.23 per cent), broiler chicken meat (0.22 per cent), rice (0.15 per cent), red onions (0.09 per cent), and broiler eggs (0.06 per cent).

Meanwhile, annual deflation in February 2026 was solely experienced by the information, communications and financial services expenditure group at 0.09 per cent year-on-year.

By component, annual inflation in February 2026 was primarily driven by government-regulated price components with inflation of 12.66 per cent year-on-year and a contribution of 2.26 per cent. The commodities providing dominant inflation contribution within this component were electricity tariffs, machine-made kretek cigarettes (SKM), and hand-rolled kretek cigarettes (SKT).

Volatile components also recorded annual inflation of 4.64 per cent year-on-year with an inflation contribution of 0.78 per cent, with contributing commodities including broiler chicken meat, rice, red onions, and broiler eggs.

Core inflation also occurred at 2.63 per cent year-on-year with an inflation contribution of 1.72 per cent. The commodities primarily contributing to core inflation were gold jewellery, academic or tertiary education fees, vehicles, house rentals, and rice with side dishes, Ateng added.