‘Not approving surcharge is worse political move’

Seen from a political viewpoint, the Babauta administration’s decision to reject the fuel surcharge regulation is a worse move than signing it for immediate implementation, according to Commonwealth Utilities Corp. chair Francisco Guerrero.

“Politically, [the fuel surcharge] is not a good move. But if we start implementing the load shedding, it will be worse. People will all be going to the elected officials to ask them what’s happening,” he said.

Guerrero reiterated that a four-hour power outage every night is a measure CUC is inclined to take in order to save on fuel and make its current supply last longer, especially if CUC does not find the money to pay Mobil Marianas immediately.

At Friday’s board meeting, CUC comptroller Sohale Samari reported that CUC is due to make a $3.4 million payment to the fuel supplier today.

CUC had been hoping to raise funds through the implementation of a 1.5-cent fuel surcharge, but the governor refused to sign the emergency regulation that would allow CUC to start assessing the fee.

Gov. Juan N. Babauta maintained however that the regulation will still become final on or about Feb. 25 even without his concurrence. “I acknowledge, however, that although I have decided not to sign the proposed emergency regulation at this time due to the fact that CUC has failed to provide me with sufficient information regarding the aforementioned concerns, the proposed regulation.will become final without my concurrence effective 10 days after publication in the Commonwealth Register,” said Babauta in a Feb. 7 letter to CUC board chair Guerrero.

For his part, Guerrero said CUC cannot take the governor’s suggestion, unless the Attorney General’s Office states in writing that this is allowed by law.

He noted that under normal procedure of adopting regulations, the proposing agency must solicit public comments for a period of at least 30 days.

“We’re not going to take the recommendation that [the governor] made to just go implement whatever we want. That’s not the right way. We have to go through the normal process and do public hearings,” Guerrero noted.

Babauta had disapproved the proposed emergency regulation authorizing a 1.5-cent fuel surcharge fee, citing two reasons for his decision: lack of accurate analysis by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. of the actual cost it incurs in producing electricity; and failure of the utility firm to implement effective cost-savings measures.

Despite this, the governor said he would still wait for CUC to provide his office with a final financial audit statement and rate study “that provides adequate legal and financial justification” for the amount of the fuel surcharge fee.