If Reps. Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan) and Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan) would have their way, lawmakers will assume the authority to set not only residential power and water rates but also reconnection fees.<\/p>\n
They want to remove \u201cany and all authority\u201d of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and the Commonwealth Public Utilities Corp. to set utility residential rates and reconnection fees and transfer those functions to the CNMI Legislature.<\/p>\n
Maratita said CUC and CPUC can still recommend rates but the final decision will rest with lawmakers.<\/p>\n
\u201cLawmakers should be responsive and accountable to the people. We were elected to protect their interests, and that includes protecting their livelihood that is now being negatively affected by high power and water rates,\u201d Maratita told Saipan Tribune in an interview at her office yesterday.<\/p>\n
Maratita pre-filed on Monday House Bill 17-283 that amends the Commonwealth Code to remove CUC and CPUC\u2019s authority to set power and water rates for residential customers \u201cwithout legislative authority and express approval by law.\u201d<\/p>\n
\\\u201cCUC and CPUC could also recommend residential rates, but it will be the Legislature that will decide on these rates,\u201d she said in an interview.<\/p>\n
The bill says CUC utility rates and reconnection fees \u201chave passed the level where they are reasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, due to these high rates, residential customers who have had their services disconnected encounter what amounts to insult to injury when once the consumer can finally afford to pay the high arrears, there is yet another obstacle, an unreasonably high reconnection fee,\u201d it adds.<\/p>\n
Setting commercial and government rates, however, will remain with CUC and CPUC, among other things.<\/p>\n
Torres, in a separate interview yesterday, said he co-sponsored HB 17-283 \u201cout of frustration with CUC\u201d when it comes to disconnecting and reconnecting utility services for residential customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhere is the fair warning and due process, CUC? They disconnect customers\u2019 power and water without giving fair warning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Last month, Gov. Benigno R. Fitial signed into law a measure that extends by seven days the 14-day grace period\u2014for a total of 21 days after the billing due date\u2014to allow longer time for CUC residential customers to settle their bill without being disconnected.<\/p>\n
Torres, chairman of the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication, said he expects the bill to be referred to his panel.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will call in CUC and CPUC for their inputs,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Maratita, citing her bill, said utility rates and reconnection fees should be set by an entity \u201cthat is responsive to people, as opposed to a corporation with no motivation to keep rates low or a commission that may not address the public\u2019s concerns and presently does not have a quorum, assuming that it would want to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
If Reps. Janet Maratita (Ind-Saipan) and Stanley Torres (Ind-Saipan) would have their way, lawmakers will assume the authority to set not only residential power and water rates but also reconnection fees.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-159254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159254","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159254"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159254\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159254"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159254"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159254"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}