Electricity restored govt offices

By Rebecca Kuku
POWER supply to seven government departments or premises was restored on Friday after the PNG Power management and the Government agreed on a plan to settle outstanding government bills.
PPL’s new acting managing director Carolyn Blacklock told The National that Correctional Service, Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary, PNG Defence Force, Vulipindi Haus, Sir Manasupe Haus, Central Government Building and Parliament Haus power supply was restored after a payment plan was agreed to by the parties.
The Government owes K50 million in outstanding bills to PPL which resulted in supply cuts to many government departments recently.
Blacklock said PPL did not wish to see continuous blackouts or penalise other customers that were paying their bills on time because they could not afford the fuel to generate electricity.
“But we also understand that the government is not intentionally withholding money from us and that these are difficult economic times,” she said
“So we have reached an understanding and come up with a payment plan for the government to pay their outstanding bills.”
Blacklock said other government departments’ power supply would remain disconnected until the payment plan agreement was finalised.
“The payment plan is for the government to pay their outstanding bill over a period of time and to pay their current bills on time,” she said.
“So there are two different payments as it’s important to keep the two separate as we understand that catching up on arrears is a tough thing and cannot just be made in a one-off payment, especially during these tough economic times.”
Blacklock said that it was important for PPL and the government to work together and be understanding as times were hard and PNG Power was also affected by the tough economic times.