Previous Story
PUC, CUC working together to set new rates
|
Posted on Nov 11 2008
Consultants hired by the Public Utilities Commission met with Commonwealth Utilities Corp. officials last week, as PUC prepares a rate study in order to set new utility rates for the Commonwealth.
CUC prepared several reports for the Georgetown Consulting Group, like a month-by-month breakdown of outages since January 2007.
PUC must review and set utility rates before the Dec. 31, 2008, deadline set by law. If PUC fails to meet this deadline, CUC 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.
“They basically hit the ground running. We’ve been working with them and gave them a slew of reports,” said CUC executive director Antonio Muña about the consultants.
The effort is collaborative between CUC and PUC, Muña stressed.
“They understand there are some areas we’re challenged with, and we went through a power crisis that could have been catastrophic in terms of its impact,” Muña said.
In September, PUC hired Georgetown Consulting Group as its utility regulation consulting firm and Harry Boertzel as hearing examiner. Both Georgetown and Boertzel have served in similar capacities for the Guam Public Utilities Commission for approximately 20 years.
