Photo Credit: PNG Biomass
According to the Port Moresby Chamber of Commerce and Industry, disruptions in water and electricity delivery cost firms a substantial amount of money, particularly in the industrial sector.
Because to the continuous power and water supply issues in Port Moresby, Chamber president Rio Fiocco stated that operating expenses were rising, particularly for electricity because they had to pay more for generator fuel.
Manufacturing businesses, he added, were the worst impacted.
“In terms of power, it has been widely reported the government’s outstanding dues to PNG Power Ltd.
“It needs to pay its debts,” Fiocco said.
Electricity supply issues, according to the ANZ Bank, are hurting companies and limiting development. Mark Baker, the company's managing director, explained that it was "primarily a cost problem for us and many other firms."
“We cannot afford to have interruptions to power supply,” Baker said.
“(We) need to have to reliable generators and UPS systems to maintain operations at all times.
“Investment in modernising the power system is critical.
“Without reliable and cheap power, business growth will be constrained, whether an SME or a larger company.”
According to Brian Bell Group, about K300,000 was spent on gasoline last year as a result of the outages.
Although the firm had a robust power backup strategy in place, power interruptions disrupted commerce and raised expenses, particularly for refuelling and maintaining generators.
Cameron Mackellar, the company's CEO, stated that power outages were growing more often, which was a negative thing.
“We spent more than K300,000 in generator fuel across the group in 2020. And you need a generator when you don’t have power,” he said.
“This was nearly twice as much as we spent in 2019.
“Servicing and maintaining or replacing generators is an added cost as well.”
Reference:
Luma, Dale. The National (11 August 2021). “Water, power supply disruptions affecting operations: Chamber.”
