Utilities remain public enemies No. 1 through 5
Utilities remain public enemies No. 1 through 5
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Monopolistic practices and a lack of concern toward public
complaints were continuing to perpetuate a culture of poor public
service in the country, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation
(YLKI) lamented on Monday.
Citing YLKI's 2003 annual report, released in conjunction with
World Consumer Rights Day on Monday, YLKI head Indah
Suksmaningsih said poor service still reigned in the provision of
public services, despite constant rises in prices.
The report found telephone, banking, electricity, water, and
housing services remained the top five concerns -- as they were
in 2002.
"This means that the business players in such services haven't
improved their performances. The unfairness increases as these
players continue raising their prices," she said.
Over 1,600 complaints were submitted via letters and telephone
calls to the foundation last year.
Indah called for an end to all monopolies across the country.
"Monopolies make it impossible for consumers to find
alternatives," she said.
She cited the recent move by state-owned oil and gas company
PT Pertamina to increase the price of liquefied petroleum gas
(LPG).
"Consumers can do nothing about it because there are no
alternative providers," Indah said.
For electricity, which is provided by state-owned company PT
PLN, consumers have complained about the discrepancies between
their bills and the actual amount of electricity used, and the
unstable voltage provided, which can damage electronic devices.
YLKI said the discrepancies were due to the company's meter
readers who often estimated the likely payments within an area
instead of directly visiting the houses to record the usage on
the meter.
A spokesman from PT PLN Muljo Adjie told The Jakarta Post the
company was following a program to improve services.
This commitment, he said, was shown in stricter supervision of
meter reading, which included a re-check method for meters, and
the regular monitoring of faults on electricity poles and
generators.
Another new effort was the launching of the hotline 123 for PT
PLN on Friday. "Through this line, we aim to respond to
complaints as fast as possible," Muljo said.
For water services, provided by PT PAM, consumers' complaints
were mainly about the poor quality of water and frequent
unannounced disruptions to the supply.
PAM's Jakarta director Didiet Haryadi said PAM had been
intensifying its efforts to solve these problems.
"Most of the problems lie in the distribution difficulties and
water availability," he told the Post.
Didiet said the company would begin relocating water pumps to
denser city areas to accommodate more consumers, and increase the
quantity of water reservoirs.
He said a shortage of qualified technical officers was one of
the reasons behind the company's slow response to consumer
complaints.