On Monday night, the Public Utilities Commission approved a petition by the Guam Power Authority to implement a new surcharge for the agency’s working capital fund to pay off $27 million that was placed in the fund.
The surcharge rate is 1.97 percent on residential customers (roughly translating to $4.66) and will last for five years, said GPA spokesman Art Perez.
“The working capital fund is a revenue bond indenture requirement that basically states GPA must maintain a fund to ensure continuity of operations in the event of a natural disaster or the event of a disaster because it comes in many different forms,” Perez said.
Perez explained that if there is a disaster like a typhoon, GPA can get 30 days of operating revenue from the fund.
“GPA will dip into this fund to pay for labor, manpower, equipment, materials, and maybe even contract services to help recover from the typhoon so we can generate revenue again,” Perez said.
“That’s one example of what a working capital fund does. GPA was able to fully fund this account with the sale of its 2010 revenue bonds last year,” he added.
Perez is referring to the $206.5 million bond sale that occurred last year in July on the municipal market.
