CUC gobbledygook: Part V

CUC says it will now disconnect PSS due to past due billings. CUC maintains the past due is still over $1 million but PSS now says they have “settled” on $414,000. What’s the real number, please?

CUC also states that “disconnection will not be up to CUC…” but will be the result of “urgent actions” taken by Mobil, Telesource, Aggreko, PMIC and Shell. Will somebody please tell me what these “urgent actions” are and explain how these businesses are to blame? Perhaps we’ll see the CEOs and presidents of these businesses climbing the poles to pull the plugs?

And best of all, please explain this one: Georgetown Consultant’s report indicated CUC’s accounts receivable at $31.2 million; $9.6 million of that from government agencies. OK, we know that, but Mr. Muña stated day before yesterday, “The CNMI central government is now current in its utility payments.” Wow! Where did the central government suddenly get $9.6 million to bring its accounts current? Or perhaps Mr. Muña does not consider “government agencies” a part of the “central government”; which causes me to wonder what is the “central government” if not made up of all its various “agencies?”

Perhaps there is a silver lining after all: If CUC manages to disconnect all of its past due accounts, as the Governor has apparently instructed, there will be so little power consumption left that we won’t need the power of Aggreko or PMIC and could nicely supply the remaining customers with only one engine at Power Plant 1. Not a very enticing solution when compared with what simple “good management” could do.

There are so many conflicting “stories” being bandied about from so many in the “central government” that it’s nearly impossible to keep a score card, much less know who’s telling the truth, if anyone is!

And did anyone notice the recent flip-flop on Aggreko? When asking for the money six months ago, it was “we will not require those services for more than a year” to (this week) “it looks like we’ll probably have to extend [Aggreko] at least another six months.” Why, when only five months ago CUC had “plenty of time” to make the necessary repairs to PP1? Well, it so happens that fully one third of the time has slipped away and CUC has yet to even decide what its next step should be, let alone take a step!

I’ll leave the rest for you to work on…but I’m pretty sure part VI of this series will not be far off.