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PUC to share office space with the governor
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Posted on Oct 08 2008
The Public Utilities Commission is going to be housed temporarily on the second floor of the Governor’s Office, after the agency was unable to find other available space.
“Other agencies have offered [but], unfortunately, people are talking but no one wants to take the initiative and commit,” PUC chair Viola Alepuyo said Tuesday night at an emergency meeting for the commission.
The Department of Public Safety offered space but extensive renovations were going to be necessary.
Commissioner Kimberlyn King-Hinds said she was concerned about what the public would think of the regulatory agency sharing space with the governor.
“I have objections in terms of perception. Are we completely independent?” she asked. “Just the perception, I guess.”
In the short term, it’s necessary and will help move the process along, vice chair Kyle Calabrese said in response to King-Hinds’ concerns.
PUC is tasked with reviewing and setting utility rates before the Dec. 31, 2008, deadline set by law. If PUC fails to meet this deadline, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. will be forced to reduce power rates down to 17 cents per kWh—a prospect that will make it impossible for CUC to pay for fuel supply and maintenance of its engines and to pay its independent power producers.
Jim Madan from Georgetown Consulting and Harry Boertzel, the administrative law judge for Guam’s PUC, were also in attendance, as the three CNMI PUC members voted on the adoption of rules and bylaws. The two men were hired to help PUC conduct a survey that will be the basis for the rate structure.
Earlier in the day, Madan and Boertzel met with various government officials to introduce themselves.
During the meeting, the three members also discussed the need for an executive director for the commission.
