“I will be happy to get out of the contract once the CNMI government pays its obligations to Telesource,” said Mendiola.
The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. signed an exclusivity contract for 10 years with Telesource in May 1997, and renewed the contract for another 20 years in 2001.
CUC owes Telesource $829,420.
Mendiola said the Telesource contract prevents other independent power producers to sell power to CUC.
“It’s being monopolized by Telesource,” he added. “It’s an exclusivity contract.”
Mendiola earlier expressed dissatisfaction with Telesource for the power interruptions on Tinian due to CUC’s failure to pay the company.
He admitted that he does not know how Tinian could “break away” from the Telesource contract.
The delegation’s legal counsel, the senator added, is trying “to find out how we [can] get out of that exclusivity contract.”
He said there are three power companies offering alternative energy projects to Tinian.
Mendiola did not mention any names, but said Tinian will be receiving formal proposals soon.
He added, “I would recommend that CUC pays Telesource what it owes. If not, then get out of the contract immediately because we cannot continue the way we are. If I have a choice, and we have the money, we’ll get out of the contract tomorrow. If we have another company that wants to come in and buy out [Telesource] — by all means go ahead and buy [it out] just as long as the power rate goes down.”
