Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Board Chair Janice Tenorio and CUC acting Executive Director Betty Terlaje look at the list of delinquent government agencies on Tuesday.
THE Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has sent 16 disconnection notices to government agencies and departments regarding past due utility bills totaling $59,764,523.30.
These additional disconnection notices are inclusive of the arrears sent to the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. and the Department of Public Works, CUC Board Chair Janice Tenorio said.
“We need to do this. It has been a while since we sent special letters of disconnection. We are working with the administration, affected autonomous agencies and departments in resolving their arrears,” Tenorio said in an interview Tuesday.
For her part, CUC Acting Executive Director Betty Terlaje said, “The utility disconnection notices go out every month like they normally do. The reason why we sent special letters of disconnection [is], primarily, because the government agencies, as we know, they take their time to pay, and so because of that, we have to send special letters that we signed, but they are just like any other disconnection notice, they have the same 14-day period from the day of the notice to make payment or we take action.”
She added, “I’m not going to [say] that we should have disconnected sooner. One of the reasons why it is not so easy to send out a regular notice to disconnect is that the government [agency] provides public service. When we shut them down the public is also affected. While I understand that they [the government] have to pay like any other customer, we try to work with them, and contact them monthly and ask if they are going to remit their payment….”
Terlaje said in the last two to three years, “there haven’t been many payments, and so that’s the reason it’s time to send these notices again.”
She said some of the agencies are bringing up concerns, and some are disputing the numbers.
“They are meeting with our customer service staffers and accountant in charge of the government accounts. They are reconciling for those agencies or departments that feel that the charges are not accurate,” Terlaje said.
“We told them…let’s make sure we agree on the number, because we are standing firm on the number that was due,” she added.
“You have to dispute when you get your bill and you feel that it is incorrect. You can’t wait two years later and dispute because then we don’t have the means to verify whether the water was really leaking on our side or their side or whatever their claim is. CUC’s position is that these are correct billings unless you inform us that there is a special circumstance that warrants a valid dispute, and we will work with you to resolve that dispute,” Terlaje said.
She added that Secretary of Finance Tracy Norita reached out to CUC regarding the central government’s arrears before the disconnection notices went out.
Norita wants “to reconcile the charges because she said they do not match what they have in their system,” Terlaje said. “We are working with them [so they can] make payments once they reconcile the accounts.”
She said CNMI judiciary staffers, for their part, “will work with our staff to verify some of the information [in the judiciary’s unpaid utility bills]. We are working with them to resolve their concerns. Three other agencies — [Northern Marianas College, the Office of the Attorney General, and the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission] — had come in to ‘understand’ the number because you know they said the personnel handling their accounts are no longer there, so they have to come in to clarify what are in their billings.”
According to Terlaje, “The dispute should have occurred once they got their [monthly utility] bills — they had 60 days to dispute their bills. We will disconnect if we don’t come to terms.”
As for the concerns raised by the agencies, Terlaje said, “It’s going to take time to review them. For example, the judiciary is claiming that the water charges are too high. They don’t use that much water. We got to send experts to their building to verify if there’s a leak, or something like that, and let them know what our findings are, and work out an arrangement on handling that matter,”
She said CUC will look into all concerns seriously. But “if their claims [cannot be verified] then we have to tell them to pay,” she added.
According to a CUC document obtained by Variety, the following government agencies have delinquent accounts:
• CHCC — $53,686,518.70
• CNMI Supreme Court — $2,486,634.02
• DPW — $1,1112,565.86 (not $50,927.16 as earlier reported)
• Tinian and Aguiguan Mayor’s Office — $739,199
• Department of Public Lands — $694,255.87
• Northern Marianas Housing Corp. — $547,769.60
• Rota Mayor’s Office — $115,645.79
• Saipan Mayor’s Office — $64,331.96
• NMC — $52,522.42
• Bureau of Environmental & Coastal Quality — $50,927.16
• NMI Retirement Fund — $49,917.50
• Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission — $46,781.35
• Legislative Bureau — $38,487.82
• Office of the AG — $33,618
• Marianas Visitors Authority — $24,407.99
• Northern Islands Mayor’s Office — $19,940.26
