Traders want PLN to stop blackout

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)