Residents concerned over prolonged power cut

A PROLONGED power outage caused by a blown transformer in a Lae suburb has impacted more than 1,000 residents and caused them to plea with authorities to address the matter.
The transformer located in East Taraka blew out in March and an estimated 200-plus homes were affected.
A group of frustrated residents gathered earlier this month to express their concerns and called for the PNG Power management and relevant government authorities to seriously look into their plight.
The blown out transformer was a replacement for the original one which had also experienced blow outs and had to be repaired over the years. Long-time resident Alex Poiya said power supply was important for people living in the city and it was negligent on the part of PNG Power for not fixing the transformer promptly as those affected were all rate payers and worked in Lae.
He said being without power for two months was unacceptable and those responsible for maintaining and fixing the city’s power grid had a lot to answer for.
Roselyn Lee, a mother involved in small to medium enterprise (SME) activities said, vendors like herself were badly affected as they could not refrigerate much of their stock for sale such as ice blocks, ice for cooling drinks and safely storing perishable items. “It’s now very hard for us, we rely on power to store and sell our food items,” she said.
“We can’t sell we can’t make money for living expenses.”
Landlord Las Ame said she had lost tenants because of the blackout while sales at her trade store had also dropped.
In a response via email, in mid-April to the East Taraka residents, PNG Power’s transmission and distribution manager Levi Yalu confirmed that the transformer was faulty but that they did not have the parts to repair it and were waiting for the Port Moresby headquarters to send the parts over.