SENATOR Corina L. Magofna has introduced Senate Bill 24-34 to deregulate the electric power market in the CNMI and drive down prices by allowing multiple companies to sell electricity to customers.
The bill would generate competition to provide a broader range of electricity products such as renewable energy options.
S.B. 24-34, which Magofna will officially introduce during the Senate session on Friday would still require the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation to supervise the construction, maintenance operations, and regulation of electric, water, and sewage services. But whenever feasible, CUC could contract with the private sector to assume its duties with respect to one or more of its divisions.
In the event that electrical power generation is deregulated or restructured, S.B. 24-34 states that the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission will “supervise the construction, maintenance operations, and regulation of electrical power generation.”
According to S.B. 24-34, in a regulated electricity market, a single utility company controls the entire process of electricity generation, transmission, and distribution to customers with oversight from a public regulator. The utility company, in the case of the CNMI, CUC, will make sure that power is generated, sent to the grid, and reaches customers.
The bill states that customers in regulated markets like the CNMI cannot choose who generates their power and are bound to the utility in that area.
In a deregulated electricity market, the electricity industry is no longer controlled by a single utility company, allowing multiple companies to compete in selling electricity to consumers. In such instances, generators — companies that generate electricity — sell electricity into a wholesale market, and retail energy suppliers purchase this electricity to sell it to customers.
Transmission companies or utilities own and operate the transmission grid. The utility company exists to make sure the power is distributed and everything is working correctly to keep the lights on.
Electricity deregulation gives consumers the power to choose their electric provider and plan, the bill stated.
