Consumers to sue PLN over power blackouts<\/p>\n
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Consumers of electricity provided by the state-owned electricity
\ncompany (PLN) have expressed their intention to file a class
\naction suit against the company for power blackouts on Thursday
\nand Friday which they allege have resulted in billions in
\neconomic losses.<\/p>\n
\"We have received dozens of complains from the people over the
\npower outage on Friday. Many of them expressed their wish to file
\na class action suit against PLN,\" said Tulis Abadi, an executive
\nof the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Tulus, who handles the people's complaint division, said his
\norganization would continuously encourage more PLN consumers to
\nfile a class action suit against the company as many had suffered
\neconomic losses during the intermittent two-day power blackouts
\nin Jakarta and its surrounding areas.<\/p>\n
His office was closed on Saturday, but starting Monday, YLKI
\nwill open a month-long complaint facility for PLN consumers.<\/p>\n
The power blackout was caused by a problem with its high-
\nvoltage transmission connecting two relay stations in Cibinong,
\nBanten.<\/p>\n
Tulus stressed that the power blackout was the last straw in a
\nstring of power outage incidents experienced by the electricity
\nconsumers, as the company has often cut the power supply nearly
\nevery day in many areas without providing any information
\nregarding the outages to the consumers.<\/p>\n
\"Another thing is the fluctuating voltage which has caused
\ndamage to electronic goods. So far the consumers have frequently
\nsuffered losses without any compensation,\" he said.<\/p>\n
PLN president Eddy Widiono apologized for the weekend
\nblackouts, and indicated PLN's reluctance to provide its
\ncustomers any compensation. He said that the company was ready to
\nface the class action suit, but added that according to the newly
\nendorsed Electricity Law, compensation would only be given if the
\nblackout occurs for three consecutive days.<\/p>\n
Tulus said he was optimistic that the people's class action
\nsuit would be successful as it is backed up by Law No. 8\/1999 on
\nConsumer Protection.<\/p>\n
He said that YLKI facilitated PLN consumers in filing a class
\naction suit when a blackout occurred involving the Java and Bali
\nislands in 1997. But at that time, the consumers lost in court as
\nthere was no strong legal basis for litigation.<\/p>\n
Tulus cited as an example the case involving the arbitrary
\nincrease of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas price by the state owned
\noil and gas company Pertamina, the consumers won the legal action
\nin the district court level. The Jakarta High Court is still
\nstudying Pertamina's appeal over the decision.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/consumers-to-sue-pln-over-power-blackouts-1447893297",
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