By MICHELLE AUAMOROMORO
ALL unregistered customers of PNG Power Limited (PPL) nationwide are given until end of August to come forward and register as new customers without paying penalty fees, back-bills or service fees.
This announcement was made by the PPL CEO Obed Batia during the launching of the second phase of its amnesty initiative in partnership with USAID-PEP on Monday last week.
While no charges will be made and the registration will also be free, a minimum fixed monthly energy bill of K30, K40 or K50 will be payable by the customer according to these three categories;
- Small house (1-2 bedrooms) – K30/monthly
- Medium house (3-4 bedrooms) – K40/monthly
- Large house (more than 5 bedrooms) – K50/monthly
“At least we get something than nothing,” said Batia.
“They (the unregistered customers) can come to our office or to our set-up areas where they can register their names, their details, and how they did the connection.
“Our team will then give them unique ID numbers and they will be advised on how to pay the fixed amount before our team will correct the installation and install a proper meter to record their usage,” he said.
Batia said the program would not only correct illegal power theft activities but would also make it safe for the customers to access power supply.
“Customers need safe installations because most situations around the country where homes are burnt down (due to electrical fault) are caused from direct connections,” he said.
PPL and USAID-PEP partners have found that an estimate of over 100, 000 customers are currently consuming power without a PNG Power meter.
PPL loses 26% to 30% of energy generated through illegal power theft activities such as meter tampering, meter by-pass, and direct connections.
The recently launched second phase of the amnesty program is following the pilot program which was carried out in the first quarter of this year (January- April).
“We achieved increase in connections as we connected over 900 new customers,” said Batia.
“With that experience, we now launch the second phase of the amnesty program,” he said.
Batia added that after this amnesty period ends at the end of August, PPL will then launch the third phase which would be called the External Reward Program where the public would be rewarded with attractive incentives for reporting any illegal power connections.
“The customers caught stealing power outside of the amnesty period will be prosecuted with all penalty fees to be charged accordingly,” he said.
