Previous Story
Another stab at CUC privatization
|
Posted on Jun 16 2008
A new bill that would have a private firm run the Commonwealth’s power system will be introduced in the House of Representatives today.
Rep. Victor Hocog, chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications, and Rep. Heinz Hofschneider will co-sponsor the measure, which would require a bid for the privatization of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
“We’re going with a simple, straightforward bid process this time. Putting out requests for proposals has not worked for us in the past. There were too many protests, and we want to do away with that,” Hocog said.
Several attempts have been made to privatize CUC’s power division, but they failed for different reasons. The last privatization effort was canceled in July 2007. The Office of the Public Auditor, which ordered the cancellation, ruled that the procurement process was unfair and lack transparency. OPA also said the exorbitant fees charged by CUC discouraged competition.
Press secretary Charles P. Reyes Jr. said the administration supports privatization “as a long-term solution to the power crisis,” but will defer issuing an official position until the bill has been introduced.
Reyes said the administration will support a privatization bid if it is “open and transparent, and not geared toward one particular company.”
According to Hocog, his bill would call for the creation of a task force to prepare a bid package. The task force will decide what type of arrangement CUC would enter into with a contractor. One of the options is to have the private company build and operate a power plant, and later transfer it to CUC. Another option is to hire an independent power producer. Yet another possible approach is to simply hire a private company to manage the power plants.
Hocog said a separate committee would be formed to evaluate the bids. Once the committee has made a choice, bidders will be given seven days to file a protest with the court. The court, in turn, will have 10 days to decide on the protest.
“This way, we can fast-tract the privatization process,” Hocog said.
