Vandals to be prosecuted by PNG Power Ltd
PRESS STATEMENT
PPL TO PROSECUTE VANDALS OF POWER SUPPLY INFRASTRUCTURE
Every action has its consequences which can be good or bad however vandalising PNG Power Ltd’s (PPL) power supply infrastructure has only bad implications on the electricity supplier and its consumers.
PPL will not hesitate to prosecute those found to be vandalising its properties and have them pay the full cost of the revenue lost during an outage and cost of repair of the damaged caused or face imprisonment.
The penalty may be in the hundreds of thousands of kina like the incident that occurred on the Port Moresby System last Wednesday, 14th June, 2017, which was an act of vandalism. The amount lost is around K400, 000 during the 10 hour power outage.
The fault caused a short circuit on the system at 4.41am, forcing the LNG Power Station to go offline and putting a huge burden on our other power stations which resulted in them shutting down.
Electricity supply could not be restored quickly as the outage caused technical issues on some of the generating units causing a shortfall in generation capacity.
Upon inspection of the Transmission lines by PPL personnel, it was found that foreign objects were thrown on the line towards the LNG Power Plant, at Koukou village outside of Port Moresby.
These objects were removed from the Transmission line resulting in the LNG Power Station to come back online. Power supply was fully restored at 2.18pm.
PPL is putting out this stern warning following a similar act of vandalism causing a fault on the Transmission line to the LNG Power Station at 7.00am last Friday, 16th June, 2017.
The fault yet again cut off electricity supply from the LNG Power Station, forcing PPL to carry out load shedding in the city. Had the protection system not worked like Wednesday, the consequences would have been very high. A partial interruption to electricity supply was experienced as the protection relays were able to pick up the fault and isolate it.
PPL personnel again found foreign objects on the line, had it removed and power supply was fully restored 12.07pm (Friday midday).
This was the second time in two days that faults on this particular line caused interruption to electricity supply in the city.
Individuals or groups found to be vandalising PPL properties when caught must be prepared to pay the costs associated with the power outages relating to the vandalism and they will also be prosecuted.
Any interruptions or damages caused to PPL power supply or equipment is a criminal offence and people will be prosecuted and penalized heavily. The general public must stop vandalism. This disrupts electricity services which PNG Power Ltd is mandated to provide.
There are no winners in acts of vandalism. Businesses loose margins by running their standby generators and those who do not have standby generation may be forced to discard damaged goods. For them to sustain their operations, these costs are passed onto their customers. Therefore everyone suffers.
PNG Power Ltd appeals to the general public especially those with these bad behaviors to stop because the consequences will result in very severe penalties. If you are caught, you will be imprisoned if you cannot pay.
Electricity is an essential service for driving development and makes life easier with the use of electrical appliances in our homes and offices. However if we do not respect it and not use it the way it is intended for, it can kill.
Alex Oa, Acting Chief Executive Officer, PNG Power Ltd
