All round condemnation of PNG Power supply disruptions

News that matter in Papua New Guinea

All round condemnation of PNG Power supply disruptions

PORT MORESBY: PNG Power Limited was given the thumbs down by all quarters in Papua New Guinea for its continuous power disruptions in Port Moresby and nationwide.

Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rio Fiocco said the power supply disruptions were flections of PNG Power’s bad management.

“It is frustrating and costly to businesses,” he added.

PNG Cyber Monitor reproduces below a few stories published by The National lashing out at PNG Power’s inefficiency which is causing hardship and losses to everyone in the country:

PNG Power blunders costly

March 8, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By DALE LUMA
THE continuous power supply disruptions in Port Moresby and the country is a reflection of PNG Power Limited’s bad management, says Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rio Fiocco.
“It is frustrating and costly to businesses,” he added.
Fiocco said those appointed chief executive officers of PNG Power did not last long and as a result, company plans were not implemented and issues not fixed.
“It is clearly a management issue and the management needs to be a lot more efficient,” he said.
“The Government also needs to be paying its debts to (PNG Power) so that it can carry out adequate maintenance and buy parts.
“The Government and its departments (should) pay their bills regularly, like everyone else.”
Fiocco said power cuts incurred a big cost to businesses.
“It is frustrating because businesses (need) to have their own generator to (use) when the power goes off,” he said.
“The cost to own and maintain a generator plus the cost of the fuel are high. It is costly to operate and maintain a generator. And in the case of small-medium enterprises, that is an expense they just cannot afford.
“If you are a supermarket owner, you must have your freezer goods functioning at all times. Otherwise, perishables will just rot or go bad.
“Over the Christmas period, many consumers in the city lost all their foodstuff they bought for Christmas because of prolonged blackouts.”
He said it was disappointing to see “no improvements” carried out by PNG Power.
Micro Small Medium Enterprise Council president Des Yaninan told that The National that small businesses lost millions in stock during prolonged blackouts.
“Ratepayers have to be compensated for the losses they suffered when perishables that need to be refrigerated are destroyed during blackouts,” he said.
“Most micro and small shop owners cannot afford to have backup power.”
Yaninen said the Government should not be a power producer but a regulator.
He said rewards must be offered to the public to report those making illegal power connections.
“This gives people an incentive to help PPL deal with the power thieves,” Yaninen said.

O’Neill: PNG Power needs help

March 8, 2022The NationalMain Stories

FORMER Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says PNG Power Ltd (PPL) has neither competency nor courage at the highest levels nor support from the Government to deliver power efficiently.
“Power supply has deteriorated considerably in the last three years,” he said.
“Recent reports revealed that PPL lost K41 million in revenue due to power outages last year.
“PPL had 180 system wide outages, total blackouts in 2021 with 35 in Port Moresby alone.
“That is a total blackout every 10 days in our capital city.”
Reacting to the recent regular power disruptions in the city on weekends, O’Neill said: “The carefully-planned World Bank and Asian Development Bank-funded projects to reform PPL had been disbanded or not started under this government.
“PPL needs capital,” he said.
“And it needs expert help to recover from a deep ‘ailment’. But it cannot do this without effective, competent, honest leadership at the board and senior management levels.
“PPL just cannot deliver power without disruptions.
“The policy of my then-government was to restore confidence in PPL by improving reliability and de-politicising PPL.
“Unfortunately, when the Government changed, the leadership of PPL also changed quickly.
“A weak PPL is a weak Papua New Guinea.
“It needs urgent help to restore reliable power supply.”

Power producers owed more than K300mil

March 8, 2022The NationalNational

David Burbidge

By PETER ESILA
PNG Power Ltd owes the independent power producers (IPPs) in the country more than K300 million going back to the middle of last year, an industry representative says.
IPP PNG Industry Group (IP3) chairman David Burbidge told The National that PNG Power needed a complete restructure to rescue the struggling State-owned entity.
PNG Power, for example, owes NiuPower K200 million.
The other IPPs are PNG Forest Products hydro, NiuPower, Dirio Power, New Britain Palm Oil Ltd, Posco International and Edevu Hydro (PNG Hydro Developments).
“The individual amounts owed to IPPs are a matter for each IPP and would be confidential unless released by individual companies. But it is significant and goes back into mid last year,” Burbridge said. “The Government buys 70 per cent of PNG Power electricity from them so I would hope they are up to date. On top of this, nearly 20 per cent of power generated is stolen through illegal connection.”

 Gas and Power Company workers at the power station in Port Moresby recently. Independent power producers (IPP) PNG Industry Group (IP3) chairman David Burbidge said PNG Power Ltd owes IPPs in the country more than K300 million dating back to the middle of last year. – Picture supplied

The K640 million Edevu hydropower project is still under construction and yet to supply electricity to PNG Power.
It is expected to generate 50 megawatts of power to Central, parts of Gulf and Port Moresby.
Burbidge said PNG Power should not be entirely blamed for its problems.
“(PNG Power is) woefully underfunded, has no stable management and have much external interference to contend with,” he said.
“The Government froze the power price in 2013, so that doesn’t help either. Its published tariff, not changed since 2013, only makes life harder, as (it will be) harder to recover costs.”
He urged the Government to inject some “decent working capital into PNG Power instead of relying on the goodwill of private companies.
“IPPs are not PNG Power’s bank,” Burbridge said.
He branded as unhelpful a statement by State Enterprise Minister William Duma that the rates IPPs charged PNG Power were too high.
“All power sales agreements were signed off by the ICCC (Independent Consumer and Competition Commission) with PNG Power as technical advisers,” he said.
He said PNG Power needed a full restructure and a permanent chief executive officer appointed backed by a senior management team.

City residents frustrated over frequent power cuts

March 8, 2022The NationalNational

PORT Moresby resident are angry and frustrated over the frequent power cuts in the capital city, blaming government neglect over the years as one of the causes.
Nicholas Asari, originally of Northern, said PNG Power Ltd was also unable to supply power efficiently because of the high level of electricity theft.
He also urged the Government to pay its outstanding electricity bills to PNG Power to fund its operations.
“Coupled with the problem of having so much political influence on the appointment and normal running of PNG Power, less emphasis is placed on tangible enhancement of its capability to cater for the growing number of users,” Asari said.
He said the increase in urban population had put more pressure on PNG Power to supply more homes.
“The adverse effects are experienced through the lack of upgrades on current systems in place, low morale of PNG Power employees who are affected by the company’s financial struggles as well as no stability in the administration of their welfare,” he said.
Pedro Moire of East Sepik who resides at Erima said the solution to addressing power cuts was to increase the power grid in the city
“Taking into consideration the state-owned enterprise’s legacy issues, it would be fair for the government to resource PNG Power’s capacity,” Moire said.
Jeahu Akesim, who resides in East Boroko, said the power cuts were annoying.
“It is like we are living in the village,” Akesim said.
“We pay for power but are not getting the service.
“The power outages can go for long hours.
We are not getting our money’s worth.”

PPL boss explains cause of recent disruptions

March 8, 2022The NationalMain Stories

By GYNNIE KERO
POWER disruptions in Port Moresby last weekend were triggered by the loss in its communication link called the supervisory control and data acquisition (Scada).
PNG Power Ltd acting chief executive officer Obed Batia told The National that the link was lost twice on Sunday, resulting in the blackout.
Power supply was restored at 8pm on Sunday. He said Morobe also experienced power disruptions over the weekend due to a transmission line issue between Taraka and Munum, which had been fixed.
“For the Port Moresby system, we lost the Scada (on Sunday). It was a technical issue,” Batia said.
“When Scada failed, we had no visibility on controlling and monitoring of the frequencies and voltages. But our engineers repaired that.” Power was restored at 5pm Sunday but went off again.
It was finally restored at about 8pm that night.
“We shouldn’t have any problems unless for the feeder lines if there’s rain,” Batia said.
“For the main transmission lines, we should not have any issue now.”
In Lae, the transmission line between Taraka and Munum power station had some problems.
“Our team walked up the Yalu Mountain on Saturday, managed to clear some lines and vegetation and repaired the transmission line. Power was restored on Sunday,” Batia said. He said PNG Power was trying to improve its system “so we can have stability”.
“Funding injection from our shareholders have assisted us to improve the system. Then we can look at other strategies to provide a more robust system,” he said.