Senate President Joaquin G. Adriano said the House-approved fuel surcharge subsidy proposal will pass the upper chamber shortly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will pass that bill to help remove some of the burden off the people in paying the fuel surcharge,\u201d said Adriano yesterday.<\/p>\n
The senator attended yesterday\u2019s press conference on the current power crisis, which was held at the Multi-Purpose Hall in Susupe. It was hosted by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and the Executive Branch.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, Gov. Juan N. Babauta and CUC executive director Lorraine A. Babauta said that the average payment for fuel a month is $6.2 million, broken down as: $4 million customers\u2019 payment, $1.2 million fuel surcharge, and $1 million government subsidy.<\/p>\n
House Bill 14-366, which is now pending at the Senate, aims to provide a fuel surcharge fee subsidy of up to $42 a month for every household in the CNMI.<\/p>\n
The amount represents a maximum subsidized kilowatt usage of 1,200 a month.<\/p>\n
H.B. 14-366, introduced by minority leader Rep. Arnold I. Palacios, proposes to raise the poker licensure fee from $6,000 to $10,000 in order to provide the subsidy.<\/p>\n
The bill originally wanted to provide a subsidy of $70 a month but it was lowered to $42 following concerns that there may not be enough funds to give credit to all residential users.<\/p>\n
Another proposal, H.B. 14-365, authored by Rep. Jesus Attao, also passed the House, which aims to generate $9 million for fuel cost. The bill seeks to amend Public Law 9-22 to earmark 5 percent of taxes collected for this purpose.<\/p>\n
\u201cEarmarking 5 percent from the taxes and fees\u2026will generate some $9 million which is more than sufficient to cover the fuel cost, including the increase in cost.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier, the House also passed a $10 million appropriation bill to reimburse the fuel surcharge payment of customers. This measure, however, does not identify a specific source of funding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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