New Year gift

Main Stories, National

PNG Power has lowered its electricity tariffs “as a New Year gift” for all its consumers nationwide.
The 2.7% reduction will come into effect next Friday and will apply to credit meters and Easipay domestic and business users as well as public lighting customers.
Easipay domestic users, who pay K20 for 33.2 units (kilowatt/hour) of electricity, will now pay about K19.45 to get the same amount of units.
PNG Power has been advertising the new tariffs in the media in the past week following the reduction approval by the Independent Consumer and Competition Commission.
Its acting chief executive officer Lawrence Solomon said in a media statement yesterday that the drop in fuel price was a major reason for the reduction in tariffs.
But he also warned that there was no guarantee that the cuts would be maintained throughout next year.
The PNG Chamber of Commerce and Industry executive David Conn also noted the cut yesterday, saying chamber would prepare a statement in reply today.
While it is good news for the users, PNG Power service charges, however, will increase from next Friday.
It also advertised in the newspapers that fees for temporary supply, new connections, reconnections for defaulting customers and meter readings will increase – from as little as K1 for temporary supply to K11 for reconnection.