Employees of PLN may get the short end of the stick as the state power utility seeks to fulfill its legal obligation to compensate customers for the massive blackout that hit Banten, Jakarta and West Java on Sunday.
According to reports, PLN must pay a total of IDR839.88 billion (US$5.87 million) to 21.9 million customers affected by the lengthy power outage. PLN is not allowed to use money from the state budget (APBN) to compensate customers, so it’s likely that sacrifices will have to be made internally.
One of the measures that’s apparently being considered by PLN is to cut employee pay in order to pay the customer compensation money.
“We have to be frugal [with PLN’s budget], so employees’ salaries may be reduced,” PLN Strategic Procurement Director Djoko Rahardjo told reporters yesterday, as quoted by Kompas.
Djoko explained that the pay cut would come in the form of a reduction in employees’ merit-based benefits, which is distinct from their base pay. It’s not yet known if the pay cut would be the only measure PLN would take to fund customers’ compensation.
Yesterday, PLN announced that those affected by the blackout on Sunday would be given a 20% discount on electricity bills for subsidized customers and 35% for non-subsidized customers, applicable only next month.
— PT PLN (Persero) (@pln_123) August 6, 2019
The power outage occurred just before noon on Sunday and power was restored in most parts of the capital around 12 hours after that. During that time, there were numerous disruptions to public services, such as Jakarta’s electric-powered MRT, as well as sporadic disruptions in cell phone coverage. Residents flocked to and crowded many of the capital’s malls, which were among the few businesses that had back up generators and were able to operate normally.
A preliminary report by the police from their investigation into the blackout found that the power outage was triggered by tall trees coming into contact with power lines in Central Java, causing a crucial relay station to malfunction.
