Electricity customers sue PLN in Kupang

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)