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‘No more free electricity’
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Posted on Aug 10 2005
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. will begin to charge concerned agencies for electricity used for “common public use” such as street lights and public activities.
CUC executive director Lorraine A. Babauta said during a public briefing Wednesday that CUC has not been charging for the street lights, water and sewer pump stations, and other activities such as the Liberation Day festivities, among others.
“We will audit it and charge concerned offices,” she said.
This unaudited use of electricity forms part of the 25 percent loss of the agency, she said. She said about 11 percent is lost due to natural line loss, 5 percent to water and wastewater use, and the rest is lost for “other reasons,” including illegal tampering and illegal tapping.
Babauta said that her agency aims to reduce the power loss to 5 to 6 percent.
CUC electrical engineer Edward Onadera said during the briefing that three transformers will be installed to boost power supply. He said that a transformer is needed for CUC to tap additional power from the La Fiesta Complex power generator. He said the La Fiesta facility would give CUC an additional 2 megawatts.
Further, Onadera said that a task force has been formed to curb illegal connection and meter tampering.
Earlier, CUC said that a 25-percent power loss translates to nearly $1 million in revenue loss per month.
CUC consultant Dennis Swann of Harris Group said that in 2004, CUC’s Power Plant 1 production reached 360 million kilowatt hours while Power Plant 4 produced 110 million kilowatt hours. Total sales to customers during the year totaled 364 million kilowatt hours only.
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.
The administration is currently implementing a four-point energy conservation plan, which includes metering all un-metered government buildings, distribution of utility bills to each agency beginning fiscal year 2006, and active conservation measures in government and the private sector.
