Consumers to sue PLN over power blackouts
Bambang Nurbianto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Consumers of electricity provided by the state-owned electricity company (PLN) have expressed their intention to file a class action suit against the company for power blackouts on Thursday and Friday which they allege have resulted in billions in economic losses.
"We have received dozens of complains from the people over the power outage on Friday. Many of them expressed their wish to file a class action suit against PLN," said Tulis Abadi, an executive of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI), on Sunday.
Tulus, who handles the people's complaint division, said his organization would continuously encourage more PLN consumers to file a class action suit against the company as many had suffered economic losses during the intermittent two-day power blackouts in Jakarta and its surrounding areas.
His office was closed on Saturday, but starting Monday, YLKI will open a month-long complaint facility for PLN consumers.
The power blackout was caused by a problem with its high- voltage transmission connecting two relay stations in Cibinong, Banten.
Tulus stressed that the power blackout was the last straw in a string of power outage incidents experienced by the electricity consumers, as the company has often cut the power supply nearly every day in many areas without providing any information regarding the outages to the consumers.
"Another thing is the fluctuating voltage which has caused damage to electronic goods. So far the consumers have frequently suffered losses without any compensation," he said.
PLN president Eddy Widiono apologized for the weekend blackouts, and indicated PLN's reluctance to provide its customers any compensation. He said that the company was ready to face the class action suit, but added that according to the newly endorsed Electricity Law, compensation would only be given if the blackout occurs for three consecutive days.
Tulus said he was optimistic that the people's class action suit would be successful as it is backed up by Law No. 8/1999 on Consumer Protection.
He said that YLKI facilitated PLN consumers in filing a class action suit when a blackout occurred involving the Java and Bali islands in 1997. But at that time, the consumers lost in court as there was no strong legal basis for litigation.
Tulus cited as an example the case involving the arbitrary increase of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas price by the state owned oil and gas company Pertamina, the consumers won the legal action in the district court level. The Jakarta High Court is still studying Pertamina's appeal over the decision.