Nukuʻalofa — Tonga’s worsening power crisis has now begun disrupting essential government services, after the Ministry of Justice confirmed that ongoing blackouts have forced a temporary shutdown of its civil registry system, preventing the issuance of birth, death and marriage certificates.
The Ministry’s notice comes amid public anger following repeated power cuts over the past 72 hours, as pressure mounts on the Prime Minister over outages affecting homes, village water supplies and vulnerable residents.
In a public notice released this morning, the Registrar General’s Office said the outages had rendered its system inoperable, apologising to the public for the inconvenience and advising that services would only resume once power stability is restored.
The Ministry said it was working to resolve the issue and would issue an update when operations return to normal.
The announcement adds to mounting public frustration as frequent blackouts continue to affect daily life across Tongatapu, with residents increasingly questioning the country’s power reliability and the wider consequences of prolonged electricity disruptions.
Outages Fuel Public Outrage
Social media has been flooded with complaints, with many users describing damage to household appliances and business equipment caused by sudden outages.
Public criticism has intensified in recent days following further load‑shedding advisories from Tonga Power Limited, which has cited faults in several generators that have reduced generation capacity, making outages unavoidable in parts of Tongatapu.
Some have called for urgent investment in backup power systems for critical government departments, while others have urged authorities to treat the electricity situation as a national emergency rather than a routine technical issue.
Tonga Power has issued repeated apologies for the disruption caused by the power outages.
