NEW ESI-PAY APP DEVELOPED FOR ELECTRICITY CUSTOMERS, RESELLERS IN PNG

By Wanpis Ako

PORT MORESBY: A local has developed a new mobile phone app for Esi-Pay customers in the country to top up electricity credits, redefining the future of cash-strapped PNG Power Limited.

PPL is the sole electricity authority in the country.

In the words of Rex Edward Paura on his Facebook timeline, Jaive Smare has seen the problems a lot of electricity customers and mobile phone operators face in relation to electricity credits via cell phones.

Mr Paura wrote on his wall that Smare developed the app which not only provides a platform for Esi-Pay credit payments, but also does a revenue stream for any budding entrepreneur to be a reseller.

He described the development as digital innovation, saying 'innovation is looking at a problem that we face in our community and finding new creative ways in addressing it.'

Screen snapshot of the app

"What also inspires me in this story is the fact that the acting CEO for PNG Power Limited Carolyn Blacklock believed in Papua New Guineans to make a difference and to give them the opportunity to make that happen.

"I dont know how you define innovation.....but for me.....Jaive Smare truly deserves an award for being the most innovative digital business in PNG," he concluded.

Author Reference: Wanpis Ako has graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Journalism and Public Relations from the University of Papua New Guinea. He has briefly worked with two daily newspapers of Papua New Guinea-The National and Post Courier. His work experience has been extended to the Prime Minister's Media Unit and the office of Parliamentary Opposition Leader of Papua New Guinea- not to mention the Ministries of Treasury, Higher Education, Communications, Information Technology and Energy.  He has got over five years experience in digital marketing, branding, public affairs, media and public relations.   

BLACKLOCK KEENS ON REDUCING POWER TARIFF IN PNG

By Wanpis Ako

Port Moresby: Sole electricity authority, PNG Power Limited is serious in reducing the power tariff from an average of PNG K1 (US$0.29) Kilowatt Hour to a new low price.

Acting Managing Director Carolyn Blacklock said this is part of a transition that the company is undergoing.

She was speaking at the end of Walk and Yoga for Life program in Port Moresby’s Paga Hill ring road this morning (Sunday, September 9, 2018).

She added that since taking office some six months ago, the cash-strapped company has made significant progresses with more work yet to be done.

Ms. Blackwell cited the restoration of Paunda Hydro station at the border of Southern and Western Highlands provinces last Friday after it was defunct for four years.

It was synchronized with Ramu 1 Unit to supply a total of 16 MW power to the main grid, she said.

“We want to grow this business by six times. We want to make power affordable for everybody. We want to reduce the price of power by 50 percent in the next few years. This is a big, big promise. It is a big endeavor,” a determined Blacklock told the participants.

She further said at the moment only 800, 000 people, mostly in the urban centers, have access to electricity.

“We want at least 6 million people to have power. We are family-focused on this just like the governor who is also family-focused on cleaner, greener, safer city for everyone,” she told them.

The provision of electricity in the city has been improved, she stated.

Blacklock emphasized the need for the country to tap into renewable, reliable and affordable sources of energy doing away with imported diesel and other fuel products.

Power boss assured NCD Governor Powes Parkop that they would increase the capacity of electricity to cater for his Settlement to Suburb upgrade program which is being implemented.

Author Reference: Wanpis Ako has graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Journalism and Public Relations from the University of Papua New Guinea. He has briefly worked with two daily newspapers of Papua New Guinea-The National and Post Courier. His work experience has been extended to the Prime Minister's Media Unit and the office of Parliamentary Opposition Leader of Papua New Guinea- not to mention the Ministries of Treasury, Higher Education, Communications, Information Technology and Energy.  He has got over five years experience in digital marketing, branding, public affairs, media and public relations.   

PNG CAPITAL PORT MORESBY AT A GLANCE

PORT MORESBY: “Port Moresby is much better now than I moved in ten years ago.”

These are the words of Carolyn Blacklock who works and lives in the capital city.

Down Town, #AmazingPortMoresby

She is the acting Managing Director of PNG Power Limited.

She calls Port Moresby home away from home.

A jubilant Ms. Blacklock commended NCD Governor Powes Parkop for transforming the city, so residents-including herself-can come out onto the streets and ‘enjoy Port Moresby.’

“It is a beautiful city. You (dwellers) all are beautiful as well, and we all live in the beautiful city. However, we often forget just how lucky we are to have such a city.

 “Lots of people around the world don’t have what we have in Port Moresby,” she told participants of Walk and Yoga for Life this morning at Paga Hill Ring road.

She, however, said some think that life in the city is tough and uneasy.

PNG Power boss perceived it otherwise: “It is getting better. It is definitely much better than when I moved here ten years ago. The city is beautiful. The city is much cleaner, and the people are safer.

“We have got a long way to go but we are going somewhere. The problem is for communities which have not started the change yet and Port Moresby, under the leadership of Governor Powes Parkop, is more than started.

“It is well advanced on a progress to a safer, cleaner, greener city,” she said.

With a foreign visitor, she took part in the usual walk and yoga for life this morning.

Meanwhile, Blacklock, a domestic violence survivor, has called on men folk in the country to get educated about their role in domestic violence: thus, little boys and girls grow up respecting each other.

PPL CEO Carolyn Blacklock

“It is not about women being better. It is simply about them being equal. I hope you all do what you can to make sure we have a safer city for both men and women,” she said.

#LiveablePortMoresby