The chairman of the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications, Sen. Paul A. Manglona, presides over a meeting on Tuesday with officials of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Also in the photo are Senate Floor Leader Corina Magofna, Sen. Celina Babauta, Sen. Frank Cruz, Senate legal counsel Jose Bermudes and Senate legislative assistant Devin Macaranas.
SAIPAN Mayor Ramon Blas “RB” Camacho is opposed to Senate Bill 23-29, which would separate the power and water services of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.
The bill also proposes to transform the CUC board into an elected body.
In his testimony during the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications meeting on Tuesday, Camacho said the CNMI economy is still recovering, and the government is experiencing financial constraints.
He said creating a new agency is very costly. He also noted that CUC’s power division is subsidizing the cost of water services so if the water division is separated, “where is [it] going to generate its money…?”
He said splitting the two CUC divisions will “impact” residents because a new division will need funding.
Right now, he added, S.B. 23-29 “is not feasible.”
Camacho doesn’t believe that a structural problem is the cause of
“hardship.” Most likely, he said, the problem lies with management.
He said there are “a lot of tax hike proposals,” which are among the main topics at picnic tables nowadays.
The number of crime incidents appears to be increasing because may people are trying to survive, Camacho said as he reiterated that creating a new agency “is not really feasible while people are still suffering.”
Instead of creating a new government entity, Camacho said “let’s tap our land and ocean resources.”
An annual public-land use fee of $1 per acre will encourage people to farm, he said.
“There’s no other force to drive the economy. Tourism is not really pumping in. Casino is a dead duck. So let’s create a local industry to drive the economy — the products from ocean and the products from the land,” he said.
No official position
Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission Chairman James Sirok didn’t have a particular comment on the bill, but he said other commissioners are not in favor of the measure at the present time “because they feel that it would cost [more], which would be passed on to the rate payers.”
But as a commission, he said “we don’t have any formal position….”
Sirok said at some point in time, the commission is “going to have to review something that comes in from CUC as a result of the bill if it becomes law. So I would prefer not to take a position on it until we get something from CUC, which would be down the road assuming the bill passes and becomes law.”
He said the power division of CUC subsidizes its water expenses, and “it has been doing that for a long time — there has not been a rate modification on water rates for more than 10 years.”
S.B. 23-29 was introduced by Sen. Paul A. Manglona, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communications.
