Power outage due to PPL not paying power supplier

The National National

PNG Power Ltd is owed a lot of money thus is unable to pay one of its independent power suppliers, causing the recent blackouts in Port Moresby, an official says.
Executive general manager for retail Kingston Albert said PNG Power owed Niupower Ltd “outstanding payments”.
“Rightfully, they have to load shed because we are not paying them,” Albert said. He could not provide the exact amount it owed Niupower Ltd because of “confidentially agreements”.
“We owe them money for the power they supply to the Port Moresby grid,” he said. “PNG Power needs to get more money.
“Our mass disconnection exercise we are doing is to improve our revenue. When we have extra cash, we can pay our suppliers.
“Not only Niupower but all the other suppliers are putting pressure on us because we are not paying them.
“PNG Power has a huge potential. We can pay every supplier but we don’t have the money because people are stealing from us.”
Niupower Ltd chief executive officer Michael Uiari had earlier told The National that the company was working with PNG Power to enhance its revenue collection through a Port Moresby grid cash-flow enhancement programme.
The programme has two goals:

  • LUMP sum payment by the Government for its arrears; and,
  • INCREASE the weekly revenue of PNG Power by K10 million per week.