Repayment

This is in response to the Feb. 9, 2009, article on Rep. Joseph C. Reyes’s call to PUC to get compensation packages or repayments for damaged appliances during power outages that took place in March 2008 to around mid-September 2008.

I implore Rep. Reyes to urge our lawmakers not only to look for repayment for damaged appliances and interrupted TV, but also to consider the basic daily necessities that we could not avail of that we so normally take for granted on this planet, such as taking a shower when we need to, brushing our teeth, and preparing meals for our families. The outages spanned over a longer period of time than we have ever had to experience even in the event of a major storm or natural disaster. Even with a two-week outage from a typhoon, the citizens of the CNMI were always granted some kind of relief package. You would think we’d surely need it more with continuous outages over a span of five to six months. Many families resorted to canned food, candles, batteries, generators, and even renting hotel rooms just to be able to take a decent shower and have a full night’s rest. Frozen food that had been spoiled had to be thrown out, costing families hundreds of dollars if not more. Students went to school tired, and probably hungry, unable to focus. Everyone at work seemed dazed and discombobulated. Businesses may have lost just as much, if not more.

So, Rep. Reyes, when you and our lawmakers meet to discuss this repayment package for damaged appliances, please consider the other basic necessities that we were deprived of, to include the cost of batteries, ordering potable water from water companies, purchasing or rental and fueling of generators, rental of hotel rooms for taking showers and preparing meals for our families, and whatever distress the power emergency may have caused us. CUC may make any decree they feel necessary to plead with the community to save electricity, and go green, that is important, but it is also important that the disservice that has been brought upon their customers because of lack of planning not go on without any remorse and compensation. What we would appreciate the most is if our lawmakers can put their heads together to assist us in getting a fair compensation package that is worth discussing; that will really pay us all back for the damages and emotional distress brought upon us.