UPDATE ON CUC SOLUTION FR: THE GOVERNOR

Saipan Tribune LocalThursday, October 18, 2007 By Agnes E. DonatoReporter

Fitial puts off airing solution to CUC crisis
Those expecting to hear the governor's big announcement on the power crisis were disappointed yesterday.Gov. Benigno R. Fitial did not make the announcement because he is still studying his proposal, according to his press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr.“We are carefully studying the implications. We will make the announcement soon, but as of today, we're not ready yet. We have to make sure we do our homework first,” said Reyes.The governor was expected to announce yesterday morning his proposed solution to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.'s financial crisis.Reyes said the governor was to discuss in a radio broadcast how he plans to prevent rolling blackouts when CUC runs out of money to pay for fuel.CUC is expected to suffer a shortfall of $7.2 million to $8.4 million in electric revenues as a result of the Legislature's decision to cut residential power rates below cost.

Governor to announce remedies for CUC

Marianas Variety News Staff 101607

GOVERNOR Benigno R. Fitial will announce legal and financial remedies for the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s projected $8 million revenue shortfall following the Legislature’s decision to reduce residential electric rates.Press Secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the governor convened his cabinet members yesterday morning and announced that he was preparing to take action on the CUC situation.“In order to prevent CUC from hitting the reef, we will take steps,” said the governor in the minutes of the cabinet meeting.Reyes said the administration has consulted a U.S. financial accounting firm.“The governor will make an announcement about the remedies we will take in the next day or two,” he said. During the 2005 gubernatorial campaign, the governor and Lt. Gov. Timothy P. Villagomez promised a repeal of the CUC fuel surcharge, indicating that they supported lower power rates. They did scrap the surcharge but replaced it with a new formula that doubled the power rates.When asked about this issue, Reyes said they did not anticipate that the problem with the soaring prices of imported fuel would reach record highs in 2006.“It’s clear that the situation was worse than we expected and that’s why we had to raise the rates,” said Reyes.“The stocks are doing well because the crude oil prices are getting higher per barrel. It’s still on an upward path and we have to remember that the CNMI pays more for fuel because of our arrangement,” he added.In 2005, the monthly average cost of imported fuel sold to the CNMI was around $2 million. By 2006, it went up to about $6 million, based on CUC’s records.The House of Representatives is preparing to insert a provision on the yet-to-be-approved fiscal year 2008 budget of the CNMI that would grant CUC subsidies to buy fuel.The House is scheduled to hold a session this week.

Fitial identifies solution to power crisis

(st-Tuesday, October 16, 2007 By Agnes E. DonatoReporter


Gov. Benigno R. Fitial will announce his proposed solution to the looming power crisis tomorrow, according to his spokesperson.Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the governor is expected to go on local radio Wednesday morning to discuss how he plans to prevent the return of rolling blackouts despite CUC's projected deficit.The administration says CUC will experience a shortfall of $7.2 million to $8.4 million in electric revenues as a result of the reduced rates enacted by the Legislature.According to Reyes, the governor has been meeting with CUC officials since last week to address the crisis.“The governor will be announcing his remedy within a couple of days. If nothing is done, CUC will run out of money to buy fuel and it will have to implement power rationing. The governor wants to prevent that from happening,” said Reyes.Residential power rates were reduced to as low as 17.6 cents per kWh after the Legislature overrode the governor's veto of House Bill 15-246 recently.Under the legislation, households will pay 17.6 cents per kWh for the first 1,000 kWh. This represents the fuel rate, which may fluctuate from month to month depending on the cost of fuel. Before this act, the fuel rate averaged 20 cents per kWh.The fixed non-fuel rates will no longer be charged for the first 1,000 kWh. But for anything over 1,000 kWh, the non-fuel rate will be 44 cents per kWh, plus the 17.6-cent fuel rate. Previously, the non-fuel rate schedule ranged from 1.6 to 12.7 cents per kWh for residential customers.The new law cuts the monthly customer charge from $7.67 to $3.50.

Saipan power on now, off later

By Gemma Q. CasasVariety News Staff (mv 101507)

POWER in some villages on Saipan went on and off over the weekend as the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. struggled to deal with another major emergency situation at its main power plant.CUC’s hotline said the power outages began on Saturday, lasting for a few minutes to over an hour.CUC said there was mechanical trouble with one of the major engines.“We have an emergency situation. This is not load shedding yet,” a CUC staffer manning the hotline said.Staff members at the power plant refused to say how many engines are still running. Officials of CUC could not be immediately reached for comment.Power went off just before 7 p.m. in parts of Garapan, the center of business activities in Saipan on Saturday. In Koblerville, some residents complained they lost electricity for at least two hours yesterday.Residents and business establishments in Garapan said they suffered unannounced power outages in the morning and afternoon.For many, what should have been a relaxing weekend turned out to be anything but.“We were supposed to be watching a movie at home,” said a father who asked not to be named. “But as you can see, we ended up staring at each other because there is no electricity.”In yet another neighborhood, some parents complained that their children’s education was being affected.With no generator to rely on in case of a power outage, they said their children end up not doing their homework, especially when CUC cuts their power at night.Since Oct. 4, CUC has been required to bill residents at lower rates for their electricity.Under House Bill 15-246, which became law after the Legislature’s override of the governor’s veto, CUC now sells electricity for 17.6-cents per kilowatt hour for the first 1,000 kwh to residential customers.Last month, residents were billed 24.4 to 35.5 cents per kwh, depending on their consumption.CUC said the Legislature’s override lowered the residential electric rates but will result in more than 1,400 hours of rotating blackouts in the months ahead as the agency tries to stretch its limited revenue collections to pay for fuel.

This type of individuals needs to be located since they have no problem paying high rates. CUC and the government needs to create a BILL called "VOLUNTARILY CAN AFFORD TO PAY HIGH RATES" and pass it asap.

WHAT CUC NEEDS TO DO!

1. CALL BACK THE ALIENS TO TRAIN THE LOCALS INSTEAD OF WASTING MONEY AND TIME.

2. STOP PLAYING WITH THE ENGINES SUCH AS "ROLLING BLACKOUT'S" THIS IS ONE REASON WHY THE ENGINES ARE GOING DOWN.

3. HIRE MORE STAFF FOR THE PLANT INSTEAD OF THE ADMIN.

4. MOVE THE CUC ADMIN INSTEAD OF RENTING NEXT TO THE PLANT & UTILIZE THE EXCESS EMPLOYEES TO POWER UP THE PLANT. THAT IS THE HEART OF CUC DON'T YOU THINK?

5. IMPLEMENT SAVING OF POWER AS THEY EXPECT FROM THE CONSUMERS.

6. STOP THE POLITICKING IN THE CUC.

7. STOP SENDING STAFF OFF ISLAND FOR TRAINING BECAUSE IT DOES NOT MAKE SENSE WHY WE STILL GET THE SAME SERVICES AS IF THEY WERE UNSKILLED.

8. STOP HIRING AND "RE-TRAIN" THE EXISTING STAFF OVERALL.

BOTTOM LINE IS: TOO MUCH ROLLINGS AND SHUT DOWNS THEY FORGOT THE ENGINES ARE BUILT TO GIVE UP YOU KNOW.

A weekend of outages, CUC calls back alien workers

Monday, October 15, 2007 By Ferdie de la TorreReporter (ST)

It was a weekend of outages on Saipan. The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. said the cause was fuel injection system in the power engines.As of 8:30pm yesterday, CUC spokesperson Pamela Mathis told Saipan Tribune that the utility agency's executive director Anthony Guerrero ordered that the alien workers employed by a contractor be called in for emergency because the problem got worse.Mathis said the fuel injection problem has escalated to a bigger turbo charger problem.“The problem is that the employees that have been working on the two units have been at it since early today (Sunday) and really can't do anymore,” she said.The problem, Mathis, said, triggered more outages “this evening” (Sunday night) in Capital Hill, Kagman and the northern part of the island.On Sept. 30, 2007, more than 20 non-resident workers plus six engineers stopped working at CUC as no bill has been signed allowing CUC to keep employing alien workers.Yesterday the outage started at 10:30am in China Town, Miha, and the Duty Free Shoppers area. At 1pm the power was back.Mathis said from 11:42am to 1pm the outage occurred in Fina Sisu, As Lito, San Antonio, Chalan Kanoa, and Chalan Piao.At 4pm, CUC tripped a part of Kiya 4 grid or the Beach Road and Chalan Kanoa areas. The outage lasted an hour.The second partial of Feeder 2 or the Garapan Beach Road from Tony Roma's to San Jose was also taken off.As of 6pm, Mathis said the mechanics were almost done with the repair.“They took turns (outages) so that nobody has to suffer for a too long of a period,” she said.On Saturday, two different set of outages occurred.A 30-minute outage started at 12 noon in Capital Hill, Kagman, Marpi, As Matuis, and Tanapag.At 6pm, the same areas-Marpi, As Matuis, and Tanapag had outage along with Garapan area.Power was back in Garapan at 6:30pm while the other areas from 7pm to 8:30pm.