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Due to losses, CUC asked to do power audit
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Posted on Jul 07 2005
Gov. Juan N. Babauta has instructed the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to conduct a power audit amid findings that it is losing 25 percent of its generated power, translating to nearly $1 million in revenue loss a month.
“The governor asked the CUC executive director to undertake that immediately because, obviously, if we regain 25 percent of the power, the cost of providing power to people would go down. The governor is looking for ways to make CUC more efficient and make the cost of the power they produce easier on consumers,” said press secretary Pete A. Callaghan yesterday.
He said CUC can do the audit internally using its own meter readers.
He said power losses are due to illegal hookups, meter tampering, and unmonitored usage such as street lights and water pumping stations that are on all the time.
“Certain public utilities are not monitored. Those need to be looked at one by one,” he said.
In a recent presentation at the Legislature, CUC consultant Dennis Swann of Harris Group confirmed that the utility firm loses 25 percent of its generated power.
Swann cited that in 2004, CUC’s Power Plant 1’s production reached 360,000 mwh while Power Plant 4 produced 110,000 mwh. Total sales to customers during the year only totaled 364,000 mwh.
Swann said the loss of power happens anywhere, but noted that CUC’s loss rate is about 100 percent higher than the norm. Swann said that the “normal” rate of loss is about 13 percent.
Swann said that power use can be closely monitored and the loss minimized if all costumers use meters. He said that, if power is metered, the load or the customers’ use go down.
Swann, in his presentation, said that the issue on losses is separate from the privatization issue since the problem lies in the distribution or transmission system or the consumer side.
The government is expected to award a contract for the privatization of the main power plant in Lower Base shortly.
Earlier reports said the contract awarding may take place on or before July 19, the 60th day of the governor’s declaration of disaster emergency in the CNMI.
