Power bill, a guessing game

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post/Medan

It turns out that constant electricity blackouts are not the only thing that customers have had to suffer.

In Medan city, electricity customers might not have been charged fairly since their monthly bills have been based only on estimates of usage.

In the last 20 months, workers in charge of recording electricity meters from house to house have been guessing the customers' electricity usage as they have not been provided with transportation money to check the meters.

The staff coordinator in charge of reading electricity meters in East Medan district, Syahrial, said the workers knew this practice could disadvantage customers but they were forced to do it since they were not given money to visit the customers' houses.

"How can we visit customers' houses if we have no transportation money. We'd rather stay home and estimate the customers electricity consumption based on their previous bill," Syahrial told The Jakarta Post.

Some 400 officials in charge of recording electricity meters staged a protest at North Sumatra's PLN office on Tuesday, threatening to go on strike for the failure of PLN's partner company PT Citra Kontrak to pay their transportation money.

Syahrial claimed that based on their contract, every employee is entitled to receive Rp 38,000 (US$3.80) as transportation money per day to visit customers' houses but it's been 20 months since they were paid.

Previously, he added, when their payment was still taken care of by PLN's partner CV Padat Karya, they received their transportation money on time.

Another coordinator from Medan Labuhan district, M. Taufik, said the workers would go on strike until Aug. 30 if they were not given their transportation money.

He asserted that the strike would put PLN in a difficult position. "How can PLN charge the customers if we don't record the customers' electricity usage," Taufik said.

PLN's deputy communication manager, Syafi'i Taher, confirmed that the company was trying to find out why the workers' transportation money was not being paid.

"We are still investigating the case. If it's true that PT Citra Kontrak has not paid the staff yet, then PLN will immediately cut its partnership with the company and find a new one. PLN does not want trouble," Syafi'i told The Jakarta Post.

However, he played down the strike threat, advising the workers to reconsider their move. "PLN has no direct connection with them. If they go on strike, we can find other people to do the job. With regards the customers' bills, we can charge them the same as the previous month," Taher said.