CUC heightens campaign vs unregistered private streetlights
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is intensifying its efforts to get rid of unregistered non-government and private streetlights to resolve the non-technical line losses.
On Thurday, the utilities company said that auditing of public and private streetlights and removing all non-government and unregistered streetlights will continue until the concern is addressed. In addition, it said that line crews will also continue to perform necessary aesthetic adjustments of all streetlights to ensure that they are installed on every other pole. This project began in June last year.
Department of Public Works Secretary Martin Sablan defined government streetlights as those installed on the main roads or dedicated public right of ways that are registered with the DPW. Private streetlights are those that do not meet this description.
According to CUC, all unregistered private streetlights that do not meet the criteria described by DPW will be removed from the electrical grid and power poles and placed at the base of the power pole from which they were detached. CUC is advising all private streetlight owners to visit their Dandan office and register their existing streetlights. Once a private streetlight is registered, the customer will be charged through the standard monthly billing process.
According to Josephine Togawa of CUC’s power division, private streetlights that are removed are returned to their private owners. This effort is also being done on Rota and Tinian.
Non-technical line losses are losses due to metering problems, errors in meter reading, theft, problems in the customer information system, billing issues, and other back-office issues.
Based on a study of private consultant Kema Consulting that CUC commissioned last year, non-technical losses account for 6 to 7 percent of CUC’s unaccounted energy loss. This percentage is considered “high” because the industry standard rarely exceeds 1 percent.
Due to these findings, CUC created an ad-hoc task force that will identify all back-office activities, including meter reading policies and procedures, customer information system integrity, billing procedures, and revenue recovery and protection procedures. The task force’s eventual aim is to reduce non-technical losses to a level no greater than 1 percent. This is projected to result in an annual ratepayer savings of about $4 million to $6 million a year.
