Small consumers seem to bear the brunt

Sunday Star 19/9/2004 By Wong Chin Wai

IF YOU live in one of those affluent, upmarket areas like Bukit Damansara and Jalan Duta, you can be assured of minimal disruption to power or water supply. 

We cannot imagine the Mak Datin, along with her Indonesian maids, hauling pails of water from the nearest mains. If there is a water cut, you can bet water tankers would be sent to their doorsteps after a phone call. 

No such service for 2,000 dwellers of a 21-storey block of flats at Taman Teluk Indah, Prai Jaya, in Penang. Electricity supply to the common areas of their building was cut on Wednesday because the bill had not been paid – in full, that is. 

The cut affected the three lifts and the pump to the main water tank, forcing the residents to use the stairs and carry pails of water from a neighbouring block. 

Their ordeal ended on Friday, 49 hours later, when Tenaga Nasional Bhd (TNB) restored supply to Block D1 after the building management paid RM3,000, being part of the RM37,000 outstanding bill. TNB has also agreed to defer its action to disconnect supply to Block D2. 

The power cut upset residents who have been promptly settling their RM50 monthly maintenance fees. TNB's decision to penalise everyone, including the good paymasters, has gone down badly with law-abiding residents. Rightly so. 

It seems that Joe Public always has to bear the brunt. 

Six companies that owe TNB a total of RM852.99mil have been allowed to pay in instalments over 13 to 15 months. 

Defaulters are often served notices to pay up after 60 days of the bill date but much leeway seems to have been given to corporate giants while the same leniency is not shown to ordinary consumers like the Taman Teluk Indah flat-dwellers. 

When someone does not pay RM200 in arrears, TNB threatens to cut the supply but when big companies are involved, a different standard is applied. 

Efficiency is certainly needed in TNB – it has debts of some RM30bil – but it won't be able to recover its losses by going after the small fry. Errant corporate defaulters should be on top of the list. 

While it is easy to hammer TNB, all consumers should make it a point to pay their electricity bills. 

I used to live at a block of walk-up apartments in Petaling Jaya, where most of the residents were businessmen and white-collar workers. We clamoured for our strata titles from the developer but when they were handed to us, a fresh round of problems began. 

Managing the apartments ourselves wasn't easy. We found that the biggest culprits of non-payment of maintenance fees were owners living overseas or those who had rented out their units. 

The management committee found it hard to pay the security guards, for waste disposal and general maintenance. In fact, there was no money in the sinking fund for a fresh coat of paint for the apartment blocks. In the end, I moved out. 

I now live in an apartment in Mont Kiara, where you think the high-heeled would pay their dues promptly. Wrong. The same problem exists even at high-end condominiums. 

Last week, I was told that an expensive gated community near Kajang had run into similar problems because some rich owners have not been paying their fees. As a result, the security system is now badly run and the housing scheme is poorly lit. 

Sometimes, the fault lies with the management company that is quick to demand for payment of fees from apartment owners but slow to respond to general maintenance needs. 

At my apartment unit, the intercom has not been working for months and my complaints have fallen on deaf ears. Some of the lights at the swimming pool are on the blink. Again, the management doesn't seem to bother. 

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi is right when he said that Malaysians live in first-class facilities but have Third World mentality. This is reflected not only in the way we maintain our facilities but the apparent lack of civic consciousness. 

Many Malaysians, irrespective of financial standing, are still not quite ready to share the responsibilities and commitment of living in a common property. 

o Wong Chun Wai can be reached at on thebeat@thestar.com.my