Electricity customers sue PLN in Kupang

KUPANG, East Nusa Tenggara (JP): A group of 232 electricity customers has filed a lawsuit against the local branch of the state electricity company PT PLN, seeking compensation of Rp 5 billion for unilateral cuts in the power supply.

The plaintiffs, including entrepreneurs, civil servants, retired policemen, the provincial chapter of the Consumer Protection Agency (YLKI) and 10 lawyers, filed the lawsuit at the Kupang district court on Tuesday.

They demanded that PLN compensate all material losses and non- material damage caused by unnotified but planned cuts in power supply since July, 2001, which were expected to last until December. They said the company had also violated the civil law and the consumer protection law.

Coordinator of the litigation, attorney Nixon Bunga, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday that 25 subscribers were filing a civil lawsuit and three others were representing a class action, namely Nixon Bunga himself, Nixon Mesakh and provincial YLKI chairman Musa Mallesy.

The material losses incurred by customers were in the form of 232 damaged TV sets, refrigerators, tape recorders, radios and other electronic items as well as five houses burnt due to using candles. The non-material injury was the inability of citizens to enjoy TV entertainment and use electronic equipment.

Representing local businessmen in the dispute was Andre Soliwoa, with Hubertus Seran and Gerson Tanuab acting for civil servants, Barnabas Lima for the retired policemen, and Vitalis Sola, Dabiel Nara and Habel Kadja for ordinary citizens.

"As a business and social institution, PLN has failed to fulfill its responsibility to provide optimal service because it unilaterally cut off the power supply to 4,000 subscribers while simultaneously demanding full payment of monthly electricity bills," they asserted. (30)