Govt among free power users: PPL

PAPUA New Guinea (PNG) Power Ltd (PPL) has started a mass disconnection exercise on industrial customers found to be tampering with electricity meters and paying less than their expected bills, an official says.
PPL acting chief executive officer Obed Baita said the nationwide disconnection exercise applied to Government departments, State-owned agencies, manufacturers and commercial retailers.
“Domestic customers on Esipay meters will also be investigated, disconnected and charged accordingly,” Baita said in a statement.
“The disconnected industrial customers will be charged a reconnection fee of K10,000 must pay outstanding debts and an additional advanced bill for a month before electricity supply is restored.
“Ongoing investigations have revealed that many high consumption industrial customers are tampering with credit meters and this is deemed and amounts to power theft.
The practice of meter-tampering and overdue outstanding bills have hit PNG Power’s revenue hard, denying it to increase generation capacity and maintaining power reliability in the country.
Baita said this notice served as an ultimatum for the Government departments, State-owned agencies, manufacturers and commercial retailers to settle their outstanding bills and avoid being caught for tampering electricity meters.
“Investigation is underway and meters found to be tampered will be removed and electricity will be disconnected,” Baita said.
A reliable source told The National last month that PNG Power continued to suffer duress because of the Government’s inability to pay its recurrent expenditure and its debts.
It is understood that the total amount is around K460 million comprising outstanding bills and unfulfilled commitments to PNG Power. “There is funding available and the Government continues to make commitments to pay some of its recurrent costs,” Baita said.