House: CUC officials not singing in unison

Faced with a serious financial crisis, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. seems to be singing different tunes on how to resolve the situation, observed the House leadership yesterday.

“They are still facing a crisis situation: fuel cost, money for operating costs….What the vice speaker [Timothy Villagomez] said is that CUC needs to align itself, the board members have to be on the same page. I think there is disagreement. What the vice speaker said is that the CUC board itself has to be carefully aligned and in unison and they also have to align themselves with the management and then they have to work with the administration and the Legislature to find solutions to this pressing financial problem,’’ said House leadership spokesman Charles Reyes Jr..

For instance, the CUC said in yesterday’s public hearing conducted by the House Committee on Public Utilities Transportation and Communications that the board favors the separation of sewer and water divisions from the power division. The recommendation was made by board operations committee chair Herman Sablan.

Yet, when CUC board chair Frank Guerrero arrived, he said that such a separation is not practical at this time. “Personally as a board member, I think it’s premature to address the separation issue. I don’t favor it,” said Guerrero.

He noted that both wastewater and water utilities are subsidized by the power generation and distribution divisions.

“Sewer and water charges are low. How can they survive in terms of maintaining it, operating it away from CUC? Knowing that the power utilities subsidize the sewer and water, how is it going to survive? So at this time, I don’t favor it,” he said.

The board chair, who just arrived from an off-island trip, said the board should better bring the issue to the Legislature “and ask them [lawmakers] to amend the law.”

Meantime, Reyes said that CUC seems to be withdrawing from its previous position to impose a fuel surcharge.

“Basically, the CUC board and management no longer seem to be interested in it. CUC is backing off from the surcharge fee. Also the administration has also backed off from the proposed surcharge,” said Reyes.

He said this is understandable as it is election year and the public is against it.

He said that the House, for its part, has always been opposed to it. “We’ve been consistent all throughout,” he said.

Reyes said yesterday that the House leadership continues to reach out to CUC to avoid shutdown of services.

The CUC’s lack of finances would leave it unable to pay for its fuel, which could result in power outages.

Earlier, the CUC threatened to disconnect government agencies from power services for failing to settle outstanding utility bills, now reportedly at $19 million.

The issue on utilities debt, however, is pending litigation following claims by the government that it has actually been overpaying the utility firm.