Funding assistance from the federal government continues to help keep the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. afloat.<\/p>\n
Financial data that Saipan Tribune obtained from CUC show that the agency realized operating revenues of only $90.3 million last fiscal year. Compared to the $98.7 million it spent in 2013, CUC actually incurred a net loss of $8.3 million. This deficit went down to $5.1 million after the corporation earned $3.2 million from its non-operation side.<\/p>\n
That same fiscal year, CUC received $11.1 million in federal grants. After factoring in this federal assistance, CUC actually recorded earnings, or a net asset, of $6.059 million.<\/p>\n
CUC chief financial officer Charles Warren confirmed yesterday with Saipan Tribune that the agency did not incur a deficit last fiscal year.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverall, there was no deficit [in fiscal year 2013]. However, the majority of the grants are for capital items, not operating expenses, so funding is still needed for operations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
CUC\u2019s operating loss in fiscal year 2013 showed a significant decline compared to losses recorded in the last four years.<\/p>\n
Data indicated that CUC\u2019s net loss in fiscal year 2010 was at $9.070 million when it generated only $82.6 million in total revenues versus operating expenses of $97 million. In that fiscal year, federal grants received totaled $5.8 million, resulting in the overall deficit\u2019s decline to $3.2 million.<\/p>\n
In fiscal year 2011, CUC\u2019s operating loss was at $12.4 million (operation loss was at $9 million while non-operation loss was $3.4 million). That fiscal year, total revenue was $92.2 million but expenses jumped to $101.3 million. Luckily, Warren said, federal grants for that year amounted to $13.9 million, resulting in a positive net asset of $1.4 million for CUC.<\/p>\n
In fiscal year 2012, CUC generated $95.9 million in revenues. However, operating expenses remained high at $103.6 million, incurring a net loss of $7.7 million. However, because some revenue was recorded under non-operation, which amounted to $2 million, CUC\u2019s overall net loss went down to $5.6 million. Federal monies received during this time was $10.4 million but some $7.4 million was deducted as \u201cextraordinary item\u201d\u2014leaving CUC with a net loss of $2.6 million.<\/p>\n
Decline in net losses<\/p>\n
If federal grants are not factored in, it will show that CUC continues to incur net losses: $9.070 million in fiscal year 2010; $12.4 million in fiscal year 2011; $5.6 million fiscal year 2012; and $5.1 million in fiscal year 2013. <\/p>\n
Warren attributed the decline in fiscal year 2013\u2019s net loss to the following: \u201cThe [Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission] approved a $3.4 million rate increase for the electric division in January 2012. This provided additional revenue for fiscal year 2013. However, maintenance costs for the engines in fiscal year 2013 was about $2.6 million higher than the costs contemplated in the rates, and bad debt expense due to slow government payments was significantly higher than planned,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
To cover shortfalls, CUC utilizes proceeds from grants it receives every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cCUC has been very fortunate to have received grant funding to assist with engine overhauls and other power plant improvements,\u201d Warren said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Funding assistance from the federal government continues to help keep the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. afloat….<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[54,49,50],"class_list":["post-31907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news","tag-agency","tag-cuc","tag-power"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31907","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\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31907\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}