PNG Power Ltd condemns attack on its field officers.
Part of the suburb of Gerehu Stage Four (4) here in Port Moresby, was on forced outage from Thursday 9th February to Monday 13th February. The original outage was caused by a fault on the equipment but then an extended outage was caused by the harassment of PPL officers, by some men (customers) who were drinking at that time.
The attack on the officers was unnecessary and dangerous as three (3) of them were above ground and were defenceless. The attackers also tried to remove the ladder while one of the Officers was standing on it. If the ladder and the technical officer were not secured with safety-straps, the officer could have fallen off and sustained serious injuries. The experience was traumatising and very distressing.
The other main reason for the prolonged outage was the reluctance of the community to hand in the suspects or even provide their names. The names were only obtained after police were engaged.
PPL has a responsibility to provide safe and reliable power supply, but requires support and protection from customers and the general public, to ensure outcomes are achieved.
There is no winner in situations of prolonged outages. The customers suffer which is undeniable. But PNG Power Limited also suffers. A lot of investment was made to put up the infrastructure and PPL expects continuous revenue to pay off the investment, and also expand/extend the services to new customers.
PPL will not fail to repeat this action, if the customers and general public threaten, harass, and harm its officers. PPL and customers need to work in partnership to ensure power reliability, and in the event of an outage, to minimise the outage time as much as possible.
Power supply to Gerehu Stage Four (4) has already been fully restored as of Monday this week, with Community Leaders from the area, assuring PPL Management and Officers that such attack will not happen again in the future.
PPL wishes to acknowledge the NCD Governor, Honourable Powes Pakop's support in the meeting with the community after the restoration of power.