The leadership turnstile at Papua New Guinea’s state energy provider, PNG Power (PPL), is spinning once again as the search is on for another chief executive. This latest shift at one of the country’s major public companies presents an opportunity to make a real difference in PNG, and to muscle up to China’s aggressive moves in the country.

PPL’s next chief executive – the 13th in the last 18 years – will lead one of the most inefficient national electricity systems anywhere. Just 15 per cent of the population has access to electricity, almost all of them in urban centres, and PNG also has the world’s 7th highest electricity costs.