THE Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has the power to review and establish utility rates and other fees for electrical power, water, and sewer, Assistant Attorney General Jose Mafnas Jr. said.
Jose Mafnas Jr.
“Consequently,” he added, “CUC respectfully denies [the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp.’s] request that all CHCC’s prospective bills and arrears be calculated using the commercial rate for water and non-residential rate for wastewater/sewer.”
In a letter to CUC Executive Director Gary Camacho dated Jan. 11, 2021, CHCC legal counsel Nancy Gottfried stated that the “government” customer classification under which CHCC was billed for water and sewer does not exist according to CUC’s own regulations.
But according to Mafnas, CUC legal counsel, utility rates include a government rate.
He said a Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission decision and order on May 21, 2010 stated: “A separate CNMI government water and wastewater class, hereinafter referred to as Government, should [be] established, which comprised all components of the CNMI government, including the central government, line agencies, the college, the public schools and the autonomous agencies. This customer class should not include non-CNMI governmental agencies, which are included in the commercial class.”
In addition, Mafnas said Section 13 of the CPUC order stated that “[a] metered government water rate of $54.30 per 1,000 gallons is recognized and confirmed.”
Section 24 then stated that the CPUC’s “establishment of a new CNMI government customer class and temporary unmetered monthly rates for residential and commercial water customers shall supersede any provision in CUC’s administrative regulations to the contrary,” Mafnas said.
“CPUC’s order makes clear that a government class with a water rate of $54.30 per 1,000 gallons was identified, confirmed, and established,” he said.
But “public schools have since been removed from the government class and are now assigned to the commercial class, with the intent of the legislation stipulating that the rate should be modified to assure that CUC not take a loss on this rate modification. This has not yet been done,” he added.
