PLN Shells Out 800 Billion for Java Island Blackout Compensation

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Acting head of the state-owned electricity firm PLN, Sripeni Inten Cahyani says that the company has compensated customers that endured the massive Java island blackout in August of 2019.

The blackout happened on August 4^th, 2019, affected areas in Banten, Jakarta, and West Java.

“We have dispersed the compensation on September,” said Sripeni in a hearing with the House of Representatives (DPR) energy commission at the parliamentary headquarters on Tuesday.

According to her, PLN has shelled out up to Rp839.88 billion for 21.9 of its customers. The compensation payment mechanism has been adjusted to The Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry’s Decree No.27/2017.

According to the Ministry’s Directorate General of Electricity Rida Mulyana, the law requires PLN to provide compensation in the form of electrical bill reduction if the TMP indicator exceeds 10 percent from the indicator that has been set by the ministry.

However, the Indonesian Consumers Foundation (YLKI) deemed the compensation to be too insignificant and suggested that PLN customers should be compensated according to the real losses they experienced during the blackout.

“The fair thing to do is to compensate the customers based on real-life losses that can come in the form of 50 percent discount,” said YLKI chairman Tulus Abadi on Tuesday, August 6, 2019.

FAJAR PEBRIANTO