7 gas stations shut down

TANGERANG: Banten Trade, Industrial Cooperatives Agency and Meteorology Center has shut down the operations of seven gas stations that allegedly tampered with their meters.

Agency head Sartono revealed on Thursday that four of the gas stations were located in Tangerang, two in the provincial capital of Serang and one in Cilegon municipality. The gas stations have been accused of installing meters that record a higher output than was actually pumped into the gas tanks. "The gas stations applied unfair measures in selling fuel by far exceeding the standard set for divergence between the amount pumped out and that recorded on the meter, causing losses to consumers," he said.

He referred to Law No. 2/1981 on meteorology, which stipulates the tolerable variance between the flow of gas and the reading on the meter is no more than 0.2 percent fuel for every 100 liters.

"We found that at the seven gas stations consumers were getting about 5 percent less fuel than they had actually paid for," he added.

The agency has closed the seven gas stations until they comply with the standards set by state oil and gas company Pertamina.

Sartono said the agency controlled at least 112 gas stations across Banten province.

"We only have 17 officers who inspect the gas stations every six months," he added. -- JP