Hunt on for power-cheaters

By DALE LUMA
A FOREIGN businessmen operating retail shops in Port Moresby was taken in by police yesterday for allegedly tampering with electrical meters in areas where he is operating, thus using power for free.
It was part of the PNG Power Ltd’s mass disconnection exercise for industrial customers illegally using power.
Police and PNG Power workers took the Bangladeshi businessman from his Hohola store to the Boroko police station.
PNG Power executive general manager for retail Kingston Albert said: “We want to set this as an example to all the businesses and operators in Papua New Guinea who are stealing power.
“They will have to pay the bills that have to be paid.”
PNG Power workers are moving around “house to house checking buildings by buildings – all installations set up by PNG Power around the country”.
“We are starting it in Port Moresby and have come across a lot – about 800 of our customers who we have been monitoring over the past five or six months.”
He said the businessman taken in yesterday was paying K1,000 a month on average, when the actual bill could be up to K20,000.
“That’s only one customer. Put five or 10 customers, you are already looking at over K100,000,” he said.
“We have corrected 100 customers already. We have seen an increment of about a quarter of a million (in revenue).”
“Many Papua New Guineans know the situation which PNG Power is going through in terms of performance and service reliability.
Albert said PNG Power should be collecting more revenue from the supply it was providing.
“There is a big difference between what we produce and what we collect from our customers,” he said.