NGOs set up monitoring posts, plan to sue PLN

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Bandarlampung

A coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), concerned about the poor service provided by the State Electricity Company (PLN) here, started the operation on Thursday of monitoring and complaint posts for consumers suffering from regular electricity blackouts imposed by the company.

They decided to set up the posts following complaints by consumers that many of their electrical and electronic appliances had been damaged by the power outages.

"The operation of these posts at several places here is part of our preliminary action before we file a class action suit against PLN. We can no longer wait for the Indonesian Consumers' Foundation (YLKI) to follow up on the consumers' complaints," said Aryanto, an activist with the Center for the Study of Government Strategy and Policy (Pussbik).

Aryanto said the center had received many reports from consumers complaining that electric irons, television sets, air conditioners, rice cookers and computers had been damaged due to fluctuating voltage and the irregular electricity supply from PLN.

The blackouts, which have been taking place once every three days since Jan. 26 this year have been imposed by PLN following damage to the Way Besai Hydro Power Plant, which supplies electricity to the province. The power plant used to generate some 90 megawatts of electricity.

People in Lampung have repeatedly protested against the poor service provided by PLN. In March, a protest turned violent when dozens of members of the Pemuda Pancasila youth organization vandalized the Tanjungkarang PLN office following a blackout in the middle of a Musabaqoh Tilawatil Quran (Koran Reading Festival) there.

PLN has promised to cover all the damage caused by the ongoing blackouts, but has imposed some strict precondition, namely that consumers provide solid evidence that the damage was caused by the fluctuating voltage, Aryanto said.

This is not the first time that PLN has been sued over its poor service. A class action suit was filed by the Jakarta-based YLKI with the Central Jakarta District Court following a one-day blackout across the national capital in 1997.

Meanwhile, Dandy Ibrahim, 37, a PLN customer from Telukbetung subdistrict here, said that some of his electronic appliances had been damaged, but he didn't know how to file a complaint against PLN.

"Every time I pay my electricity bill, I ask then to do something. But thus far, I've received no satisfaction," he said.

Another consumer, Indra Setiawan, 44, from the Beringin Raya housing complex in North Tanjungkarang, Bandarlampung, said the company had refused to accept responsibility for damage to his television set resulting from a power outage.

Agus, a consumer protection activist, said that many criminal acts had been committed during the power blackouts.

In an attempt to resolve the power crisis in Lampung, the local administration has plans to provide some 50 megawatts of additional power from a proposed coal-fired power plant. An MoU between Lampung governor Oemarsono and PT Sumatera Powerindo's board of directors was signed on Monday.