{"id":424701,"date":"2024-11-26T14:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=424701"},"modified":"-0001-11-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"-0001-11-29T14:00:00","slug":"CHCC-non-payment-would-reflect-in-FAC-rate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/CHCC-non-payment-would-reflect-in-FAC-rate\/","title":{"rendered":"CHCC non-payment would reflect in FAC rate"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. reports that the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.\u2019s nonpayment of utility arrears will reflect on the fuel adjustment charge imposed on all CNMI residents.<\/p>\n

CUC chief financial officer Betty Terlaje and executive director Kevin Watson held an FAC presentation before the CUC board of directors during yesterday\u2019s regular board meeting.<\/p>\n

During the presentation, Terlaje explained CUC\u2019s \u201cbad debt\u201d and how it is factored into the FAC charged to each CNMI resident.<\/p>\n

Terlaje explained that \u201cbad debt\u201d includes unpaid receivables like CHCC\u2019s unpaid utility balance of over $60 million.<\/p>\n

According to Terlaje, bad debt is factored into the FAC essentially passing on the charges to consumers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a small portion in the FAC rate, a small element that is essentially \u2018bad debt\u2019 and it takes into account bad debt that is related to fuel. So, in order for our rate to be full cost recovered, we also need to recover what wasn\u2019t paid to CUC. It\u2019s a normal cost of business,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Using goods sold in stores as an example, Terlaje says CUC must also recover the cost for fuel used to provide utility services to CHCC.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, if you go to the store and buy a can of soda, there are a couple of pennies in there reflecting bad debt. So same with CUC, for a full cost recovery, we need to recover the portion of fuel that was not recovered or paid. We have to pay for that fuel, who is going to pay for it?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Overall, Terlaje says the fuel used to power CHCC is a business expense that has to be recovered somehow.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheres just a difference here whether it should reflect on the fuel rate or the non-fuel rate. If it comes out of the base rate, whether it\u2019s in the fuel or the base rate, it\u2019s still going to be part of the rate. If they prefer not to include it in the fuel rate, that\u2019s fine that\u2019s the board\u2019s decision but even if I write it off on the books it\u2019s still going to be factored into the non-fuel rate as an expense. I understand the public\u2019s concern that they\u2019re paying for this, whether they\u2019re paying for it in the fuel rate or the non-fuel rate, it\u2019s a business expense that has to be covered,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be reflected in the fuel adjustment charge as long as the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission does not change the rate or remove the element. They might consider it now as it\u2019s been a long time, but that element was put in there in 2012,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

Currently, CHCC owes CUC nearly $70 million in arrears and penalties.<\/p>\n

However, CUC and CHCC are actively finding ways to work together to pay off this outstanding balance.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board talked about the repurcussions of the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.\u2019s nonpayment of utility arrears during its regular board meeting yesterday.<\/p>\n

-KIMBERLY B. ESMORES
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. reports that the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.\u2019s nonpayment of utility arrears will…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-424701","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\/424701","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=424701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/424701\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=424701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=424701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=424701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}