tate electricity company PLN has ordered YR, the owner of a boarding house in Kebon Jeruk, West Jakarta, to pay a Rp 968 million (US$70,276.80) fine for allegedly stealing electricity.
Through his lawyer, Anton Widodo, YR claimed he was innocent and refused to pay.
“The case began when there was an electricity problem at YR’s [boarding house] building in October 2016. A police officer, [identified only as] YM, offered YR help to repair the building’s electricity power,” Anton said, as quoted by kompas.com on Saturday.
YM told YR that his house needed a higher electric input and that he could help him if he paid Rp 15 million. Everything went well, Anton said, until April 29, 2017 when about 20 PLN officers visited the building and accused YR of stealing electricity.
“The PLN then disconnected the electricity supply to YR’s boarding house building. It’s been 11 months now,” he added.
Since then, YR has been using a rented generator to supply the building’s electricity needs, which costs him Rp 40 million per month and another Rp 1.5 million to Rp 2 million per day for fuel.
On Saturday, PLN Jakarta distribution spokeswoman Dini Sulityawati said the police were still investigating the case and the company would not take action until the investigation had been concluded. (vel/ahw)
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