Power cut threat

On April 23, 2002, at 8 a.m, two employees of the state-owned electricity company (PLN) came to our house, saying that we had not paid the electricity bill for February, 2002, and that they would immediately cut off the power supply. We replied that our driver, who paid the bill had not returned.

After arriving home, our driver immediately went to the PLN office, showing the receipt and asking why the PLN employees had not checked it properly before sending the notification letter to cut off the power supply. Yet, they did not answer, but pointing out that the footnote of the letter on Temporary Power Cut read as follows: "If you receive this notification letter and, in fact, you have already paid the electricity bill, please ignore this letter and accept our apology." Our electricity bill was already paid through Bank Mandiri on March 12, 2002.

How would it be if the power supply were cut while the bill had been already been paid? Wouldn't it be enough for PLN just to apologize in this case that the PLN consumer concerned would really be at a disadvantage by an arbitrary power cut? It is often the case that some PLN customers cannot present their paid electricity bill to the visiting PLN officer and usually don't find the bill until later.

It is unimaginable that a big company like PLN can make such a mistake in this era of computerization.

We call on all PLN customers to keep their paid electricity bills handy if they are in a situation like ours.

SUNARTO PRAWIROSUJANTO

Jakarta