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Lawsuits pile up against PLN for massive blackout
Several lawsuits have been filed against state-owned electricity company PT PLN demanding compensation for a major blackout in Greater Jakarta earlier this month
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span>Several lawsuits have been filed against state-owned electricity company PT PLN demanding compensation for a major blackout in Greater Jakarta earlier this month.
Head of the Jakarta Citizens Forum (Fakta) Azas Tigor Nainggolan said he wanted to take the power-outage incident to court as he experienced losses from the blackout that lasted more than eight hours, yet had not received any proper compensation from PLN.
“I demand the company publicly apologize to the community and admit its poor management,” Tigor said after filing the lawsuit in South Jakarta District Court on Wednesday, adding that he suggested the public take legal action to seek a better response from the company.
Tigor sued PLN for compensation of Rp 6,500 (45 US cents) for the toll-road charge on his way from Bogor to Jakarta, after train services stopped as the electricity went out.
“On that day, I was supposed to take a train to return to Jakarta. Arriving at Bogor Station around 1 p.m., there was no certainty when the train service would restart operations. I waited for seven hours before finally making a decision to go by a private car,” he said.
Tigor said he was more concerned that PLN admit responsibility rather than about the compensation, adding that the registration fee cost him much more than the sum he sought in the lawsuit he filed.
“As stated in Article 28 of Law No. 30/2009 on electricity, PLN has the obligation to provide proper electrical services to society. There should be clarity from the provider and that was what it missed out in the blackout situation,” he said.
The massive blackout across Greater Jakarta and West Java lasted for hours on Aug. 4 causing disruption to traffic, train and MRT services, communications, businesses and people’s day-to-day activities. The power outage continued in several areas on Monday.
Other than Tigor, some four compensation cases have been filed at South Jakarta District Court and one in the Central Jakarta District Court over the same issue.
The first lawsuit in South Jakarta District Court was filed on Aug. 8 by Ariyo Bimmo and Petrus Bello, members of the Koi Fish Keepers Community, who claimed that their valuable koi fish had died as a result of the power failure.
Attorney David Tobing said the deaths of the fish were caused by the stoppage of the pool oxygen pump, leading to losses of Rp 1.9 million for Ariyo and Rp 9.2 million for Petrus.
The case, scheduled to be heard on Aug. 20, was postponed because of the absence of a PLN representative.
Separately, three other members of the community, Kaiser Renort, Lusiani Julia and historian JJ Rizal, also filed a lawsuit in the South Jakarta District Court over the deaths of their koi, seeking compensation of 50 million for each person.
“It’s not just about the fish. For me, what is far more important than that is the effort to help correct what the government and its businesses are doing wrong and improve their performance in serving the community,” Rizal told The Jakarta Post.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Young Advocates Forum (FAMI) has also sued PLN, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, the energy and mineral resources and state-owned enterprises ministries for compensation of Rp 313 trillion to be distributed to the community.
“We request that the defendants publicly apologize to the entire community affected by the sudden power cut and publish the apology in both electronic and print media,” chairman Zenuri Makroji said as reported by kompas.com.
The Indonesian Consultation and Legal Aid Institute (LKBH) has filed a lawsuit in South Jakarta District Court demanding compensation of Rp 40 trillion from PLN and the state-owned enterprises minister.
Meanwhile, the Indonesian Consumer Community (KKI) has filed a lawsuit against PLN in the Central Jakarta District Court and demanded a public apology.
PLN’s strategic procurement director Djoko Raharjo Abumanan told the Post the company has formed an independent team that includes academics from universities to handle cases related to the electricity disruption, declining to elaborate further.
Separately, spokesperson Dwi Surya said that there had been no report from the company’s legal team regarding the lawsuits received by PLN.
“PLN respects and is willing to cooperate with all parties and follow the legal process,” Dwi said. (syk)
