Consumers to sue PLN over power blackouts

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.