ON NEW SYSTEM OF PAYING CUC BILLS Teno renews plea to Legislature
Gov. Pedro P. Tenorio yesterday renewed his appeal to the Legislature to enact legislation that will allow individual payment of electricity and water bills by each department and agency in an effort to encourage conservation in public offices and reduce their overall utilities costs.
He said he has been asking lawmakers to change the current set-up where the executive branch is responsible for all government utilities, including those from Rota and Tinian municipalities as well as legislative and judicial offices.
“That was the recommendation I suggested. However, the Legislature did not take that into consideration,” the governor told reporters in an interview.
Mr. Tenorio first brought up the matter when he submitted the FY 2000 budget proposal to the Legislature in April 1999, but lawmakers apparently ignored his suggestion as they even had to zero out utilities payment of $4 million this fiscal year in order to meet funding requirements for Rota and Tinian.
Last month, he renewed his call when he handed over the spending package for next fiscal year, noting that a new system in which each agency will shoulder utilities payment in its own budget allotment will be a “powerful incentive” in carrying out strict conservation measures.
“Even if individual agencies have to pay [on their own], it’s still coming from one pot,” he explained. “What I would like to see is for each agency to be responsible in trying to conserve some of the usage of water and power.”
The recommendation came in the wake of mounting debt owed by the Tenorio administration to the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation as it continues to leave behind over $12 million in overdue billings.
The chief executive again reiterated his commitment to meet its financial obligations to the government-owned utility firm, although he did not say how his administration will settle the debt.
“We did pay some of our bills. We will continue to do because we have an obligation to do so,” he said.
Mr. Tenorio has issued a memorandum to all department and agency heads to instruct their employees to practice energy and water-saving measures, such as turning off electronic equipment and appliances when not in use and after office hours as well as checking faucets for leaks.
CUC Board Chair Jesus T. Guerrero earlier has underscored the need for conservation in the government amid its failure to pay its utilities bills.
Both officials have acknowledged that without such drastic steps, the government’s outstanding balance will continue to grow “exponentially” in the absence of sufficient funds to settle the debt.
The government is the biggest single customer of CUC, with power, waste and waste water bills running up to more than $1 million each month.
While the CUC board has approved a payment schedule requiring payment of about $1.5 million for the first six months in a bid to cut the debt by half, Finance Sec. Lucy DLG. Nielsen has rejected the plan and instead offered a $250,000 quarterly payment.
The Tenorio administration has been unable to meet several of its financial obligations, which also include retirement share for its employees, due to the huge liabilities it inherited from the previous administration and worsened by the economic crisis that hit the island in 1997.
