PLN gives rewards to informers over electricity theft
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Sadli, not his real name, a mason, might never have imagined that he would instantly become a millionaire when he tipped off a state electricity company (PLN) officer about an illegal connection made by a cold storage plant in North Jakarta.
He got Rp 27 million in cash from PLN, a 3 percent incentive for telling PLN about the illegal connection, in which the company was given a Rp 900 million fine.
"For safety reasons, the identity of anyone informing us of illegal connections or other theft will be kept confidential," said the general manager of PLN's Greater Jakarta chapter, Fahmi Mochtar.
As in Sadli's case, Fahmi said, every person passing on accurate information about illegal connections would receive a reward of 3 percent of the fine imposed on the violator.
He said people could report any violations regarding the use of electricity up to 200 kilovolt amperes (KVA) to nearby PLN units, while for the misuse of electricity of 200 KVA and over, people could contact PLN's office on Jl. MI Ridwan Rais No. 1, to the team in charge of the crackdown on illegal connections, TIM P2TLKD via facsimile (021) 3500706 or phone (021) 3503047, or nearby police posts.
"We are in dire need of public tip-offs owing to our limited human resources," said the head of the joint team for the crackdown on illegal electricity connections for Greater Jakarta, Harry Ronald Wattilete. He declined to give further details about the team, which includes detectives from the National Police.
Harry said his team would intensify its crackdown on illegal connections in the near future in order to contain soaring electricity theft following the government's plan to raise fuel prices and electricity rates.
"Perhaps we will increase the operation to a daily basis, from the current frequency of three times a week," he said.
He said the jump in the illegal use of electricity would likely soar since the planned fuel price increase would similarly increase the expenses that factories have to spend for fuel to run their power generators and other machines.
During a seven-month operation since February, the team managed to find 139 violations, or 22 percent of the total of 631 customers being examined, mostly industrial plants and commercial enterprises.
From the estimated total losses of 55.2 million KWH, the team was now in the process of recouping the losses by imposing Rp 28.1 billion in fines.
"Most bad customers are factory owners and other commercial enterprises, which need the continuous use of electricity, like cold storage plants, hotels, plastic plants, discotheques, cafes, malls, printing workshops and outdoor advertisement billboards," the team said in a media release.
The team has managed to take four customers to court for offenses, which have cost PLN Rp 2.4 billion. Those taken to court include a supermarket owner (Rp 350 million) and a spa owner (Rp 601 million).
The standard violations vary, but most are in the form of meter-tampering or manipulating the factory's on-site power switching station.