At least three members of the Legislature, including the chairmen of both the House and Senate public utilities committees, are dissatisfied with the performance of Commonwealth Utilities Corp. management, which they claim continues to engage in questionable contracts and unnecessary purchases at the expense of ratepayers.<\/p>\n
Rep. Frank Dela Cruz, who appeared at the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission hearing on Monday, questioned CUC\u2019s judgment when it recently purchased new vehicles that he described as non fuel-efficient, costing the agency substantial \u201cunnecessary expenses.\u201d <\/p>\n
He also questioned the alleged relocation of a group of employees to a rental space in Oleai that costs the cash-strapped CUC some $10,000 rentals, as well as the installation of a modern security system for the management office and a bathroom for its executive director.<\/p>\n
Dela Cruz also disagreed with CUC contracting a private company to perform call center services for the agency.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith these, maybe we should ask CUC what cost-cutting measures it has been doing. They extended the Dandan office and begun renting another office [in Oleai], they contracted out its call center to a private company, and even purchased automobiles that are not efficient. It appears to me that CUC has done nothing to reduce its operating costs,\u201d said Dela Cruz during the public comment period of the CPUC hearing.<\/p>\n
CUC executive director Alan Fletcher has yet to respond to Saipan Tribune for comments on these allegations.<\/p>\n
Dela Cruz is also puzzled why the government, through the Public Works Department, did not realize an estimated up to 70 percent savings for using LED bulbs for public streetlights.<\/p>\n
\u201cUsing ARRA monies, we installed a lot of these LEDs a year ago. But we never realized that 60- to 70-percent efficiency,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
House Public Utilities Committee chair Rep. Larry Guerrero also lambasted CUC for what he described as \u201cschemes\u201d within the organization. He specifically cited the agency\u2019s continued hiring, accusing it of losing its sense of priority for its customers.<\/p>\n
\u201cCUC kicked out people [from the third floor of its Dandan office] so its management can enjoy the entire floor, equipped with a modern security system, a new bathroom for its executive director while allowing CUC to rent another space in Oleai,\u201d said the lawmaker.<\/p>\n
According to Guerrero, CUC\u2014on several occasions\u2014cited numerous \u201csavings\u201d it can generate from specific actions such as the buyout of the PMIC contract and other measures.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut where are these savings going?\u201d he asked, adding that there are other ways for CUC to raise its revenue requirements rather than hiking customers\u2019 charges.<\/p>\n
CUC earlier filed a collection lawsuit against the central government, public schools, and hospital to collect nearly $20 million in unpaid obligations. Guerrero said he was surprised when the Commonwealth Ports Authority, which also owes CUC, was excluded from the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cFortunately, CPA may have struck a sweet deal with CUC because obviously, it was not part of the collection lawsuit,\u201d Guerrero said.<\/p>\n
Sen. Pete Reyes, who chairs the Senate Public Utilities Committee, said it is disturbing to know that CUC\u2014despite promises of efficient service\u2014remains nonresponsive to customers\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n
The lawmaker cited his two-hour experience in line to pay his monthly bill. Only two\u2014out of four cashier\u2019s windows\u2014were open to accommodate the long line of customers, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re talking about revenue for CUC that could have been collected on that day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
A member of the public, Patrick Leon Guerrero, also aired his frustrations with CUC\u2019s performance. He cited the unnecessary hiring of another attorney for CUC in addition to its current legal counsel, the agency\u2019s continued neglect of local laws such as Public Law 18-19, and confusing information about the PMIC buyout, among other issues.<\/p>\n
CPUC chair Joseph Guerrero assured the public that the commission is not taking the issues raised by the public lightly. <\/p>\n
\u201cAnytime we get public comments, we hear them and we don\u2019t ignore them. Everything we hear, we discuss among ourselves and our consultant,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At least three members of the Legislature, including the chairmen of both the House and Senate public utilities committees, are dissatisfied with the performance of Commonwealth Utilities Corp. management, which they claim continues to engage in questionable contracts and unnecessary purchases at the expense of ratepayers.<\/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-175438","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\/175438","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=175438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}