TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - West Java Industry and Trade Department head Arifin Soedjayana said that he found it effortful to estimate the loss suffered by the businesses in the region following the Java power outage on Sunday, August 4.

“The loss endured by companies and manufacturing industries caused by the blackout, that happened for twice, was so huge. We cannot calculate it one by one," he said Thursday, August 8.

Arifin said, based on companies' assumption, the 4-hour blackout have caused them around Rp300 million loss. The amount was calculated from the production that was suddenly stopped, the damaged products, the machines that are potential to be broken, and the company still have to pay the workers, as well as the bank interest.

“The assumption is one company suffers Rp75 million loss per hour,” he added.

In West Java itself, Arifin went on, there are at least 3,388 companies in industry area. Therefore, the valuation of the loss in the industry area was around Rp254.1 billion per hour, not to mention the loss suffered by the SMEs. “Socks producer stated that the loss could reach Rp200-Rp500 million," he said.

Arifin hoped that the state electricity company PLN could solve the power outage problem and the industries can adapt to the matter.

Previously, West Java Apindo (Indonesian Employers Association) chairman Deddy Wijaya deemed the promised compensation following the blackout incident as PLN's good intention, saying that his side did not attempt to gain profit from the situation.

“We accept it well. We don't want to prolong [the matter] by calculating the loss and all; that's not the purpose. We just want to remind PLN to work professionally and be more prepared, so such incident will not reoccur,” he told Tempo Tuesday, August 6.

Deddy said he could not estimate the loss following the Java power outage. “The loss due to electricity blackout can't definitely be avoided. There is the loss that can be calculated and there is the loss that cannot be calculated, such as the trust, which is more valuable than money,” he remarked.

He hoped the state-run company and the public could take a lesson from the incident. “We can say that all of the Indonesian people, in this time and age, cannot live without electricity.”

Ahmad Fikri (Contributor)