L

ampung residents affected by rotating blackouts imposed across the province have filed a complaint to state-owned electricity company PT PLN.

They claimed the unannounced disruptions are affecting their daily affairs and damaging their home appliances.

"The fact is, in the rural and suburban areas are experiencing blackouts even more frequently that in the city, where they occur one in every three days," Lampung Consumers Institute head Daniel H. Ganie told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

According to Daniel, many people's home appliances such as rice cookers, refrigerators, televisions and computers have been damaged as a result of the sudden blackouts. Despite PLN stating they would replace the goods damaged by the blackouts, they have so far failed to follow through with the promise.

"We have gathered a lot of complaints from the public. We will file our protest and demand compensation. If PLN fail to respond, we will file for class action because they have acted irresponsibility so far. The company immediately cuts power if customers fail to pay their bills on time and has imposed these blackouts at random times," said Daniel.

"The power crisis is one of the stumbling blocks negatively affecting investment in Lampung at the moment," said Daniel.

PLN has been imposing rotating blackouts in the area for several months, claiming there is a power deficit due to a malfunction at the Batutegi hydro-power station in Tanggamus regency and the Tarahan steam-power station in South Lampung.

The Batutegi station, with a capacity of 28 Megawatts, has not been operating for many months due to receding water levels while Unit 3 and 4 at the Tarahan station have been damaged due to heavy rain in Lampung over the past few days.

"We have been relying heavily on both units at the Tarahan station, which have a capacity of 200 MW. We can't fall back on the Batutegi and the Way Besai stations in West Lampung *90 MW* because they are currently not operating," said PLN Lampung branch spokesman Sumargo on Monday.

"We hope the conditions will return to normal soon, especially with the election campaigns starting on Monday. We have to provide maximum service," he said.

Sumargo said the peak load period for Lampung was between 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. and requires an average 385 MW. Supply from Tarahan (200 MW), Way Besai (90 MW) and Batutegi (28 MW) means the approximate deficit of 100 MW is drawn from the southern Sumatra interconnection network.

"We experience a deficit of around 180 MW daily. Fortunately, power surplus from other provinces can be linked to Lampung through the southern Sumatra interconnection grid," he said.

The Batutegi station has not operated efficiently for months because low-water levels have prevented the turbines from running to capacity. Severe damage to catchment areas in the Bukit Barisan Selatan National Park in Tanggamus, largely via rampant illegal logging, has reduced water flows reaching the Rp 1.3 trillion (approximately US$118 million) power station and in turn reduced turbine activity.

Of the original 42,200-hectare reservoir catchment area, only 9,200 ha (21.6 percent) has not been afflicted by deforestation.