Old Infrastructure Blamed for PNG Easy-Pay Crisis, Says Power CEO

The recent nationwide Easy-Pay outage that disrupted electricity access across Papua New Guinea has been blamed on aging infrastructure and system limitations within PNG Power Limited.

For four days, customers across PNG were unable to purchase electricity, as the system collapse forced many households and businesses to seek alternative arrangements.

Old Infrastructure Blamed for PNG Easy-Pay Crisis, Says Power CEO

Chief Executive Officer Paul Bayly clarified that the failure was not caused by external interference, stating that technical issues had been detected well before the outage occurred.

He explained that the Easy-Pay platform began showing signs of instability weeks earlier, but efforts by engineers and IT specialists were not enough to prevent a complete shutdown.

The company has identified outdated meter technology and dependence on an offshore data centre as major contributing factors to the disruption and delays in restoring services.

PNG Power is now considering relocating its system infrastructure to a domestic data centre to ensure better control and faster recovery in the future.

To support affected users, a token relief portal has been launched, while customer care teams remain on hand to assist those upgrading from older meter systems to the newer 11-digit format.

"This outage has highlighted a deeper issue, the risks associated when we have a third party managing a critical national infrastructure," he said.