Bad weather causing power cut, firm says

National, Normal
Source:

The National, Thursday February 20th, 2014

 THE power cuts in Lae and Madang over the weekend were caused by bad weather, according to PNG Power Ltd.

Chief executive officer, John Tangit in a statement on Monday said the stormy weather at the weekend affected electricity supply, with load shedding carried out in both centres.

“Linesmen and engineers are working tirelessly around the clock to fix the faults on the transmission lines from Yonki to Lae and Madang and distribution lines that had fallen or been affected in both centres,” he said.

“Lae City and Madang Town are currently being supplied by the diesel power stations in both centres.

“The power stations do not have the generation capacity to meet the demand in the centres, therefore load shedding in being carried out.

“The faults on the lines forced a surge back into the generators at the Ramu Hydro Power Station, thus tripping them. 

“One of the generators has not been restored therefore load shedding will continue until this generator is fixed.

“The faults on the lines will also have to be fixed before electricity supply can be fully restored to both centres.

“Customers with standby generators are asked to use them.”

PNG Power has appealed to the general public to take extra precautions during the bad weather as power lines could fall.

“If a member of the public comes across a fallen power line, please report it to the nearest PNG Power office or power station.

“Electricity supply may be interrupted during this bad weather due to lightning strikes and strong winds so please have emergency lighting available, especially in the evenings.”