Outages worry people in West Sumatra, Riau
Outages worry people in West Sumatra, Riau
Kasparman, The Jakarta Post, Padang
Power blackouts in West Sumatra and Riau provinces have been
causing anxiety among the public, particularly those involved in
small and medium businesses.
Chairman of the Indonesian Consumers' Foundation in Padang,
Abdul Kadir Usman, noted that his organization had expressed its
concern over the blackouts, saying they would inflict losses on
local residents.
"The state-owned electricity company PLN was ignoring its
customers' rights," he said.
PLN always took action against customers who failed to comply
with its regulations. But when it failed to fulfill its
obligations, the customers just had to accept it without being
able to take action against the state firm.
PLN fined customers who failed to pay their electricity bills
on time every month, and would cut off the power if they failed
to pay their bills for two consecutive months. The company had
also raised its electricity charges recently but without
improving the service it provided.
PLN said that the rotating power cuts were caused by a
decrease in the water volume passing through its hydro plants at
Maninjau and Singkarak lakes, as well as the Koto Panjang
reservoir.
It said that this was the result of lower rainfall in the
areas affected and environmental damage to their water catchment
areas due to rampant logging.
But Abdul said that PLN should find other solutions to the
problem of power blackouts so that it would not inflict further
losses on the public.
"PLN could carry out, for example, cloud seeding to increase
the water volumes to the hydro plants," he said.
Marlis, the head of the small and medium enterprise section of
West Sumatra's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said that the
power blackouts had inflicted heavy losses on small and medium
enterprises in the province.
He cited tailoring businesses in Pariaman, chicken rearing in
Payakumbuh, ice makers, and photocopy and telecommunications
stalls in several regencies.
The power blackouts had also affected media publications in
Padang, he complained.
Marlis said that if PLN could not use the three hydro plants
to generate enough electricity then it should use diesel
generators and the steam power plant in Sijantang.
Reliable sources said that after PLN started operating the
three hydro plants, it moved its diesel generating equipment to
Java and Batam islands.
PLN spokesman Muhamad Zaini said that PLN had transferred the
equipment to Java and Batam because it believed that the three
hydro plants could fulfill power demand in the provinces
concerned.
He said that due to the electricity shortfall, the company was
planning to return the diesel generating equipment from Batam to
the province.
"We'll start using the diesel equipment again, but we will
possibly operate it from Riau province," he said.
He admitted that water volumes for the three hydro plants in
Maninjau and Singkarak lakes, and Koto Panjang reservoir were now
critical. The plants were not able to generate enough electricity
due to the low water levels and sedimentation.