Blackout plunges city into darkness for hours

Much of Greater Jakarta was in the dark on Thursday evening as most of the area was hit by power blackouts for more than three hours, causing confusion and traffic jams in many parts of the region.

The blackout was due to a problem along the 500-kilovolt Suralaya-Cibinong-Bekasi transmission system.

The problem started at 5:53 p.m. causing 40 electricity relay stations in Greater Jakarta to be without power, according to state power company PLN.

PLN's assistant manager for Greater Jakarta distribution, Yuniarto said only nine relay stations functioned normally.

They were Duri Kosambi, Senayan, Tangerang, Cengkareng, Mampang Baru, Budi Kemulian, Muara Karang, Jatake, and Tangerang Baru.

"Most areas in Greater Jakarta including Bekasi and Tangerang were affected by the power blackout," Yuniarto told The Jakarta Post said.

Yuniarto said PLN's technicians were trying to resolve the problem once it occurred and expected that it would be fixed complete within three to five hours.

The company's president director Eddy Widyono said the blackout affected about 4 million of consumers.

He said PLN could lose more Rp 4.5 billion (US$500,000) because of the incident.

"But the people must suffer more than us. We apologize for the incident," he said, adding that PLN was ready to face any possible class action suit filed by the consumers. (*)