the main source of electricity on the islands which exposes the public to potential endless outages — a scenario that will further destabilize the CNMI’s fragile tourism-based economy.
Georgetown Consulting Group, Inc., which the CPUC commissioned amid plans to adopt a new electric rate formula for CUC, said the power crisis on Saipan is due to a systemic management problem.
All eight engines at Power Plant 1, the main source of electricity on Saipan, have not had maintenance repair for years, thus, its original 81-megawatt capacity was reduced to just eight megawatts this year.
The consultant described Power Plant 1 as a neglected “workhorse.”
“Major maintenance on every unit at power plant 1 is well overdue — anywhere from one to seven years…. This is a horrendous situation and CUC has not demonstrated that it has a comprehensive plan to bring the plant back to an acceptable operating standard,” Georgetown told CPUC.
It added: “While CUC has recently purchased $6.5 million of parts to overhaul units 5 & 7, it does not currently have a viable plan for undertaking such overhaul (it recently rejected all bids for undertaking its work).”
Georgetown said CUC must keep in mind that its 15-megawatt rented generators from Aggreko are just temporary, thus, maintenance work at Power Plant 1 must begin as soon as possible.
“The situation remains critical and must be addressed; otherwise, ratepayers will continue to be needlessly exposed to endless outages, poor availability and the high cost of the inefficiencies introduced by operating the electric system sub-optimally,” Georgetown said.
It noted that rehabilitation work for Power Plant 2 has also been stalled.
Hence, consumers are not benefiting from the plant’s capacity to produce up to 10 megawatts.
According to Georgetown, “Once the systemic issues are determined, corrective actions should be taken, including installing a new culture of performance and accountability — no longer should ratepayers be expected to accept excuses such as a lack of spare parts, money or human resources.”
It added, “CUC will fail in meeting its strategic objective of financial independence if it is unable to simply keep the lights on.”
The consultant said CUC should consider hiring a performance management contractor to oversee maintenance and improvement projects.
