By Gemma Q. CasasVariety News Staff
A MEASURE was introduced in the House of Representatives yesterday to appropriate $6 million for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. as a subsidy for its fuel expenses.The House referred the bill to the committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication. Rep. Joseph P. Deleon Guerrero, R-Saipan, introduced H.B. 15-318 during the session. The bill seeks to create a “CUC Fuel Subsidy Account” outside the general fund in the amount of $6 million.Half of this amount will be taken from poker fee collections on the three main islands of the Northern Marianas. The other half is to come from the poker fees collected and deposited into the general fund.“The $6 million appropriation to the CUC Fuel Subsidy Account should cover the shortfall of CUC’s monthly fuel expenses for fiscal year 2008,” said Deleon Guerrero in his bill.The fuel subsidy for CUC is designed to help cushion the impact of reduced revenues following the Legislature’s decision to override Gov. Benigno R. Fitial’s veto on House Bill 15-246, which fixes at 17.6 cents per kilowatt hour the cost of electricity sold to residential customers for the first 1,000 kwh of energy they consume.CUC was charging residents and other customers up to 35.5 cents per kwh, depending on usage before the override was done.H.B. 15-246, now Public Law 15-94, is projected to result in losses of more than $8 million in revenue for CUC — money that it needs to buy fuel for the power plants.CUC said the new law will force it to implement rotating blackouts or load shedding – or power rationing every two hours.“In order to afford CNMI residents some relief from the exorbitant (power) rates, the Legislature enacted Public Law 15-94, which reduced the electric fuel rate to $0.176 cents per kilowatt hour,” H.B. 15-318 stated.“However, CUC has reported that the rate reduction would cause a shortage of funds to cover the cost of CUC’s monthly fuel expenses and rolling blackouts may be necessaryto save money on fuel,” it added.
ROLLING BLACK OUT"S
OUTAGE November 19, 2007...lower dandan.
OUTAGE November 20th, schedule to go off in some parts of the Island.
OUTAGE November 21th, 2007 HITS KAGMAN
EMERGENCY BLACKOUT HITS SAIPAN November 21st, 2007 5pm without announcement.
ROTATING BLACKOUTS ARE BACK November 23rd, 2007
Feeder 4 - 1 in the morning and another from 7pm-9pm.
OUTAGE: November 25th, 2007
Feeder 4 - 1 at midnight and another at 7-9pm.
OUTAGE: November 26th, 2007
Susupe, Feeder 4 7-9pm & midnight for 2 hours.
OUTAGE: November 27th, 2007
Feeder 4 morning hours
HERE WE GO AGAIN
Local Sunday, March 30, 2008
Fate of power rate repeal now lies with Senate
By Agnes E. Donato
Reporter
House members are counting on the Senate to pass a bill repealing a law that reduced power rates in the Commonwealth.
Rep. Tina Sablan, one of bill's sponsors, said yesterday that passing the bill is a difficult political decision, but it “needs to be done.”
“I am hopeful that they [senators] will see the gravity of the situation and act expeditiously,” Sablan said in an interview yesterday.
Rep. Heinz Hofschneider, also a sponsor of the bill, expressed the same hope. “Everyday that we don't act to repeal that law means CUC will continue to burden the general fund,” he said.
House Bill 16-79 passed the Lower House with a 17-1 vote on Thursday. Rep. Stanley T. Torres voted against the bill. Representatives Oscar M. Babauta and Ralph Torres were not present.
The bill proposes to repeal Public Law 15-94, which forced power rates down to 17 cents per kWh in October 2007, and reduced or scrapped other charges for residential customers.
The law, compounded by the rising cost of fuel, has caused the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to face a shortfall of about $1 million each month for fuel alone.
Due to the shortfall, CUC for instance failed to pay for a full 30-day fuel supply last month. Power outages are now occurring partly because CUC is stretching to last for 30 days the 23-day supply that it managed to purchase.
Hofschneider said that the repealer bill would not only allow CUC to pay for full fuel deliveries, but also reduce government subsidy to the utility.
In addition, Sablan argued, the customers would not lose much if P.L. 15-94 was repealed. The law, she noted, has not been of any real benefit to the customers, since emergency regulations were adopted to give CUC flexibility in setting the fuel component of the power rates.
House Bill 16-79 will become law once approved by the Senate and signed by the governor.
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July - August 2007
SEPTEMBER 26, 2007 Update
TAOTAO TANO SPEAKS!
PROPOSED LAND LEASE TO CORRUPTED INVESTOR
UPDATE ON COPPER THEFT!
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