Tutum Rahanta, a retail company director, lamented a spate of recent blackouts in the city, blaming the outages for a decline in business revenue.
Tutum said he had to pay more for generators and that his company's electronic devices were prone to damage due to surges in the power supply.
"How could you expect the country's economy to grow if such a basic need like electricity is so inconsistent?" said Tutum, who also serves as the head of Jakarta's Indonesian Retailers Association.
Greater Jakarta has experienced ongoing blackouts since Sept. 29 after fires gutted PLN-owned substations in Cawang Baru, East Jakarta. The blackouts have taken place during working hours.
Tulus Abadi of the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) said the impact of the blackout had been worse for workplaces that did not have generators.
"When the blackouts occurred, the YLKI workers practically stopped working. YLKI eventually had to just send the workers home," he said.
Purnomo Willy, PLN Greater Jakarta general manager, said his company understood the consumers' difficulties.
He said PLN had provided 32 generators to be used in hospitals, police offices and city administration offices in areas scheduled for blackouts.
Purnomo said consumers would likely receive a fee cut on next month's electricity bill, although the cut might vary slightly between areas.
He said each PLN branch office had a standard of service quality that also regulated the maximum hours of potential blackouts. The maximum hours differ at each branch office.
"If the blackouts in an area surpass the branch office's maximum hours, then consumers' bills will be cut as much as 10 percent," he said.
Purnomo added not all blackouts happening these days were caused by the damaged substations; and as such, cannot be easily compensated by PLN.
"There could be a system error in the substations, a problem in the cable system, a problem in the local area that experienced unscheduled blackouts. There are many problems that could disrupt the electricity system," he said.
Tulus said fee cuts should be obligatory.
"The fee cut has been arranged on behalf of the consumer protection law and PLN itself," he said.
He added that based on past experience, PLN had been true to its obligation by providing compensation.
"In 2004, when scheduled blackouts also happened in many parts of Indonesia, PLN did cut the subscription fees," he said.
Tutum was not as placated by the electricity fee cut, instead he demanded further efforts from the operator to provide a more sustainable power supply.
"PLN acts like someone who tries to stop a child from crying by giving the child a piece of candy," he said adding such fee cuts would not compensate losses to private companies in the city.
"I do not think the private companies will go after compensations. We just want a certainty that the electricity will become more stable. I think the private sector is willing to pay more for electricity if PLN can provide better service," he said. (mrs)
