PLN won't pay for blackout

PLN won't pay for blackout

Leony Aurora and Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

State power firm PT PLN said on Friday it would not pay
compensation for the massive blackout that affected much of Java
on Thursday.

The power cut, which began at 10:23 a.m. on Thursday and was
not fully resolved until some 11 hours later, did not affect
PLN's standard of service, president director Eddie Widiono said.

"We see no legal basis for reducing customers' bills (next
month)," he said.

PLN applies different standards of service for each area. In
Jakarta, the standard is no more than seven power disruptions or
cumulative blackouts of longer than 24 hours in a month, said
Eddie.

"If (the disruptions) exceed the standard, we will compensate
customers," he said.

Electricity in Jakarta and Banten went out completely on
Thursday because a glitch in the interconnection system between
Saguling and Cilegon in West Java caused two major power plants
-- Suralaya in West Java and Paiton in East Java -- to stop
operating, reducing the power supply by 4,000 megawatts (MW).
Parts of the other provinces in Java were also affected by the
power cut.

The blackout caused massive traffic jams, brought electric
commuter trains to a standstill, forced hospitals to delay
surgeries and disrupted work at businesses without back-up
generators. Fish died at aquarium shops and Internet kiosks lost
hundreds of millions of rupiah in potential revenue.

The textile industry in Greater Jakarta is estimated to have
suffered about Rp 55 billion (US$5.5 million) in losses, with
more losses being suffered by the automotive supporting
industries.

Vice President Jusuf Kalla urged PLN to take responsibility
for the blackout by compensating customers.

"We have no plans at this time to replace the management (of
PLN)," said Kalla after Friday prayers. "(However), they have to
take responsibility for the problem by paying compensation for
the damage caused by the blackout, as they previously promised,"
he said.

Indonesian Consumers Foundation chairwoman Indah Suksmaningsih
questioned whether PLN tracked the power cuts that occurred over
the course of each month, to determine if the company was living
up to its service standards.

"Dissatisfied customers can file a class action suit under Law
No. 8/1999 on consumer protection," she said. However, she added,
the question was whether customers were willing to spend the time
and energy necessary to bring the matter to court.

As of Friday, PLN had not discovered the cause of the fault in
the interconnection system. Minister of Energy and Mineral
Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro said the government had established
a special team to investigate the power disruption.

The team, led by director general of electricity and energy
Yogo Pratomo, includes representatives of PLN, the National
Intelligence Agency, the police and the Bandung Institute of
Technology.

"They will have three months to determine the cause of the
power cut," said Purnomo.

PLN has been struggling to secure a sufficient power supply to
meet growing demand in the country. A lack of investment in the
sector since the 1997 monetary crisis has left the system
vulnerable to disruptions.

Last week, PLN announced a possible 250 MW shortage in parts
of Java during the peak hours of between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
because of repairs being done at one 600 MW unit of the Suralaya
power plant.

;JP;REN;
ANPAf..r..
Power-Purnomo-snake
Purnomo says snake, kite can cause blackout
JP/1/SIDEBAR

It takes a snake to disrupt power

It does not take a genius or a terrorist to disrupt power in Java
and Bali -- the country's economic backbone. All that is needed
is a snake or a kite to cause chaos on the two densely populated
islands.

Because of the extreme vulnerability of the 500-kilovolt power
network stretching across the two islands, a snake hanging on the
transmission wires can cause a blackout across large areas,
Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources Purnomo Yusgiantoro
said.

"Power transmission will not return to normal until the snake
has been pulled from the wires. That is just an example to show
how vulnerable our power transmission is," he said after a
meeting with Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Friday.

Purnomo said a major cause of this vulnerability was the
uncoated transmission wires that were unable to prevent
disruptions caused by external objects. In addition to snakes,
Purnomo has pointed to kites as another danger to the power
network.

"For the past 15 years there have been disruptions in the
transmission of power, with most of these problems triggered by
external factors," he said. -- JP