Electricity theft is rampant in N. Sumatra

The North Sumatra chapter of state electricity company PT PLN has pointed to the rampant theft of electricity by luxury housing, hotels, shopping centers, industrial estates and government offices in North Sumatra province.

The thefts have caused the company to suffer losses amounting to tens of billions of rupiah annually, the company’s data showed.

According to the data, an average of over 1,000 theft cases have been discovered every month. Last year alone the number reached 14,706 cases, with losses estimated at over Rp 69 billion.

Head of North Sumatra’s PLN order unit Rutman Silaen said on Monday that the thefts were carried out mostly by PLN’s customers.

Rusman, for example, said incidences of customer theft reached 9,102 cases per annum, while those of non-customers were at 5,604 annually.

The theft cases were linked to 7,543 buildings, mostly in luxury housing complexes, the data showed.

After households, the cases related to business entities like hotels, and shopping centers, reaching 1,240 buildings, followed by the industrial estates with 147 buildings, foundations and schools with 127 buildings and government offices with 45 buildings.

According to Rutman, investigations into electricity thefts had not been directed at all PLN customers in North Sumatra, especially due to the limited number of officers to take forward investigations.

Aside from that, there were many officers facing resistance from building owners to check their electricity usage, he said.

“I’m confident there has been many other cases that have not been uncovered. Only 0.55 percent of the 2.67 million customers have been checked in North Sumatra,” he said.

North Sumatra’s PLN law and communication manager Raidir Sigalingging said that the theft of electricity was a practice that had long taken place in North Sumatra.

Raidir said that various efforts had been conducted to stop the activity, including through an impromptu checks in a number of buildings. But the activities turned out to be ineffective and they had even spread to star-rated hotels, industrial estates and luxury housing complexes, he said.

“There is even an industry that has been found to steal electricity at Rp 3 billion per month. The case is being handled by the police now,” he said.

Raidir explained that his company had taken stern measures against customers who stole electricity. The measures included the issuance of due bills. If customers failed to pay in line with the deadline given, the electricity line to their buildings would be cut, he added.