NGOs set up monitoring posts, plan to sue PLN

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.