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Adriano says Senate will pass surcharge subsidy
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Posted on Sep 08 2005
Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano said the House-approved fuel surcharge subsidy proposal will pass the upper chamber shortly.
“We will pass that bill to help remove some of the burden off the people in paying the fuel surcharge,” said Adriano yesterday.
The senator attended yesterday’s press conference on the current power crisis, which was held at the Multi-Purpose Hall in Susupe. It was hosted by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and the Executive Branch.
During the meeting, Gov. Juan N. Babauta and CUC executive director Lorraine A. Babauta said that the average payment for fuel a month is $6.2 million, broken down as: $4 million customers’ payment, $1.2 million fuel surcharge, and $1 million government subsidy.
House Bill 14-366, which is now pending at the Senate, aims to provide a fuel surcharge fee subsidy of up to $42 a month for every household in the CNMI.
The amount represents a maximum subsidized kilowatt usage of 1,200 a month.
H.B. 14-366, introduced by minority leader Rep. Arnold I. Palacios, proposes to raise the poker licensure fee from $6,000 to $10,000 in order to provide the subsidy.
The bill originally wanted to provide a subsidy of $70 a month but it was lowered to $42 following concerns that there may not be enough funds to give credit to all residential users.
Another proposal, H.B. 14-365, authored by Rep. Jesus Attao, also passed the House, which aims to generate $9 million for fuel cost. The bill seeks to amend Public Law 9-22 to earmark 5 percent of taxes collected for this purpose.
“Earmarking 5 percent from the taxes and fees…will generate some $9 million which is more than sufficient to cover the fuel cost, including the increase in cost.”
Earlier, the House also passed a $10 million appropriation bill to reimburse the fuel surcharge payment of customers. This measure, however, does not identify a specific source of funding.
