{"id":413273,"date":"2024-09-30T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-30T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=413273"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"CHCC-owes-CUC-over-67M-in-utility-arrears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/CHCC-owes-CUC-over-67M-in-utility-arrears\/","title":{"rendered":"CHCC owes CUC over $67M in utility arrears"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. is currently struggling to make its utility payments to the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. with its current balance now at over $67 million.<\/p>\n

During a regular board meeting last week, CUC chief financial officer Betty Terlaje gave updates on current outstanding accounts, one of them being CHCC\u2019s.<\/p>\n

According to Terlaje, CHCC is also struggling to keep their payments going and is currently five months behind on their payments.<\/p>\n

As of last week, CHCC owes CUC over $67.1 million; over $35.2 million in principal and over $31.9 million in penalties.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey haven\u2019t paid since April. Our [previous] memorandum of understanding ended in May but in April they were paying for March or February\u2019s bill. So, they\u2019re short one payment on their MOU and they haven\u2019t paid their bill moving forward. They\u2019re basically behind five months,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve aired out that they have vendors that, if they don\u2019t keep up with their payments, they\u2019ll lose some of their special rates that they get and would make their current situation worse. They, like us, provide essential services. This is a predicament between two very critical agencies,\u201d Terlaje added.<\/p>\n

Terlaje said CUC has been accommodating but soon, these non-payments have to be collected elsewhere while means the community would be directly impacted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we\u2019re being very understanding and accommodating, it\u2019s going to impact the community because our cost of service will increase because those charges need to be spread out somewhere else because we can\u2019t collect these payments. Unfortunately, that\u2019s the situation. Somone else needs to pay for it if [CHCC] doesn\u2019t pay for it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Forunately, Terlaje said CHCC and CUC is working on a settlement in the form of another MOU.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully we\u2019ll have a settlement come next week because we\u2019re going to be meeting with CHCC again. Maybe we\u2019ll have an agreement with them by then to see how we can continue moving forward to at least soften the blow we\u2019re feeling from these non-payables. I think the agreement will be similar to the one we had with them before, but the amounts will be different because their usage has increased a little,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Terlaje adds that she hopes CHCC doesn\u2019t put its utility payments on the backburner.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re hoping we\u2019re able to come to an agreement and that they don\u2019t put us on the backburner again. With EPA\u2019s budget cuts affecting the assistance to our water and wastewater [program], we really have to be serious in collecting everything we need to collect. I\u2019m crossing my fingers that an agreement will push through, but it\u2019s very challenging to get them to commit because they have a lot of obligations too. But I\u2019m pretty sure we\u2019ve made the critical point that just like their pharmaceuticals, we\u2019re an essential service to their operations. Hopefully they will consider that we are also being jeopardized by the non-payments,\u201d Terlaje said.<\/p>\n

Terlaje also noted that CHCC\u2019s bill may even drop slightly thanks to the identification of a major leak.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, they\u2019ve been working on repairing a leak that they had in their water so maybe that will come down. It\u2019s a good thing they\u2019ve identified that leak. We tried to help them underground, even BECQ assisted them. I\u2019m glad they\u2019ve identified the location and are working on repairing it now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

CUC executive director Kevin Watson explained that the leak CHCC identified was from their hot water system.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat also took power to increase the temperature. It was also a major leak. So, that should reduce both water and power costs as well as wastewater,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Back in 2023, CUC signed an MOU with CHCC in which CHCC agreed to pay $525,000 a month to address over $53 million in utility arrears.<\/p>\n

The MOU expired last May and CHCC has been working with CUC to establish a new MOU to address utility arrears.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Betty G. Terlaje<\/p>\n

-FerdieDela Torreferdie_delatorre@saipantribune.comhttps:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f8ac1db21a8bfa5af783981fa1d26074?s=100&d=mm&r=g
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