Government power bills not paid

By HELEN TARAWA
GOVERNMENT departments have not paid PNG Power Limited their electricity bills for the past three months which is affecting their operation.
Acting chief executive officer Alex Oa told The National that the delay in payments could be because everyone had been busy with the general election.
He could not disclose the amount outstanding because of the “sensitive nature” of the issue.
“Customers are not paying on time because of the liquidity issue and the government is one of our biggest customers. It’s also affecting them,” Oa said.
“Because of the elections, we’ve had delays and now that we have a new government in place. Hopefully it will improve,” Oa said.
He said the board and management were planning to write to the Chief Secretary Isaac Lupari to raise the outstanding bills with him.
PNG Power chairman Andrew Ogil confirmed that there were outstanding bills from government departments but discussions were being held between the parties to settle them.
“Management is dealing with the issue and we are handling the case with care because government departments are our biggest clients,” he said.
Five months ago, the PPL board and management made a similar call when the government departments were behind on payments of bills.