T

he Purwokerto office of state-owned electricity company PT PLN in Banyumas regency, Central Java, has announced that there will be zero tolerance for customers who fail to pay their electricity bills.

“Starting this week, we will remove the meters of anyone who has not paid their bills for three
consecutive months,” the manager of the office, Bambang Wiryawan, told reporters in Purwokerto on Thursday.

He said harsh measures would also be imposed on customers who were one month in arrears by disconnecting their electricity but not removing their meters.

The decision, according to Bambang, was made during a company meeting held in response to the high percentage of customers who failed to pay their bills on time.

He said some 60 percent — or more than 80,000 — of the office’s 140,000 customers had failed to pay their bills for up to two consecutive months, causing the company monthly losses of Rp 3 billion (US$330.000)

Starting earlier this week, the company began removing the meters of 400 customers in arrears in the region every day. “We have set up 35 teams to do so, each comprising four staffers,” Bambang said.

He added that of the 60 percent of customers in arrears, 13,000 were considered very bad customers and thus targeted for disconnection.

Of them, more than 4,000 are in the regency capital of Purwokerto district. The remainder are in the three districts of West Purwokerto, Kembaran and East Purwokerto as well as in some residential complexes within the company’s jurisdiction.

“Lenience will only be given when they make payments upon one of our team’s arrival at their respective homes,” Bambang said, adding that the disconnections would continue until the end of the year.

The amount of accumulative arrears this year, according to Bambang, has significantly increased to an average of Rp 3 billion monthly, an increase from about Rp 1.7 billion per month last year.

“We want to create a chilling effect on bad customers,” he said.

Once their meters are removed, households that want power will have to pay for a new connection.

Many customers have expressed disappointment with PLN’s move, accusing the company of overacting and of being unfair.

“We have blackouts without prior warning almost every day. This is really annoying,” said Amir Hasan of Ledug, Kembaran district, adding that PLN was very egoistic as it focused more on its rights and neglected its obligations.