PLN monitors large firms to combat power theft
PLN monitors large firms to combat power theft
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The Greater Jakarta branch of state electricity company PLN
announced on Wednesday that it had installed automatic metering
devices at the premises of large companies in the capital in a
bid to reduce rampant power theft by those firms.
The devices, branch general manager Fachmi Muhtar said, would
automatically send electricity usage information every 15 minutes
to PLN's monitoring center.
"After three years, we finally completed installing the new
meters at all companies using more than 200 KVA across the
capital," Fachmi said.
Fachmi said there were over 4,000 large companies in the
Greater Jakarta area currently using the new meters.
The automatic meters replace mechanical ones, which require
PLN officers to go to premises to read them.
With the new meters, PLN says it can minimize the possibility
of customers tampering with meters and stealing electricity as
they could now monitor usage anytime from the monitoring center,
he said.
According to head of a joint team for cracking down on illegal
electricity connections in Greater Jakarta, Harry Ronald
Wattilete, many large companies were involved in stealing
electricity from PLN.
"Of 631 large companies examined over the past eight months,
at least 139, or 22 percent of them, mostly industrial plants,
have been involved in violations," Ronald told The Jakarta Post.
Besides PLN officers, the team is also staffed by officers
from National Police Headquarters.
Most power thieves are industrial or commercial enterprises
that need a strong and continuous supply of electricity, such as
cold storage plants, hotels, plastics plants, discotheques,
cafes, malls, printing workshops and outdoor advertising
billboards.
Apart from tampering with meters, other common power theft
violations included the breaking of meter seals, the changing of
fuses to enable use of high voltage power, and the rigging of
wires inside powerboxes.
"We impose a range of penalties on these violators ranging
from fines to taking them to court," he said.
He added his team was currently prosecuting four companies for
serious violations that had caused losses to the state totaling
Rp 2.4 billion, including a supermarket (Rp 350 million) and a
spa (Rp 601 million).
He said his team would intensify its crackdown on illegal
connections in the near future in order to contain soaring
electricity theft following the fuel price increase.
"Ballooning production costs following the increase will cause
enterprises to seek ways to save money. One way taken by certain
companies is stealing electricity," he said.
From estimated total losses of 55,198,921 KWH, the team was
now in the process of recouping Rp 33 billion in fines imposed on
the power thieves.
PLN said earlier that it would give cash rewards to people who
could provide information on companies or individuals that steal
electricity power from the company.