Traders want PLN to stop blackout

TANGERANG (JP): More than 1,500 traders at Cikokol market have strongly protested the disconnecting of electricity at their kiosks by state-owned electricity company PT PLN.

The vendors, who mostly sell daily needs, threatened Monday to protest the one-sided decision at the local PLN office if their kiosks remained without power.

According to the small-scale vendors, the disconnection -- carried out on the same day by a team from the local PLN office -- has no legal basis because each kiosk had paid the market operators Rp 2,500 per day for three years for electricity.

"The money amounts to hundreds of millions of rupiah and should have been received by PLN," one trader said.

According to the traders, PLN should have discussed the matter with market officials or with officials of Tangerang mayoralty before cutting off their power, which has disrupted evening transactions at the market.

The vendors were told by the PLN team members that the move was meant to prevent electricity theft allegedly committed by local vendors who connected cables directly to PLN cables.

According to PLN employees, the company has suffered losses totaling hundreds of millions of rupiah due to power theft.

The state employees also told the traders that such theft could endanger their lives and their businesses due to the possibility of electrical short circuits.

The traders did not comment on the statement of PLN employees.

Meanwhile, mayoralty spokesman Harry Mulya Zein regretted PLN's method in trying to solve the problem, saying the move should first have been discussed with related parties.

"It's PLN's right to cut off the electricity, but it was not a wise decision," Harry said.

He promised to look into the traders' claims of paying Rp 2,500 daily to market operators. (41/jun)