SAIPAN resident Del Benson told the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. board on Friday that a third-party auditor should evaluate CUC.
Saipan resident Del Benson listens during a Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s board meeting on Friday morning.
“I am recommending a third party to redo CUC’s system,” he added. “Not just an audit. The system is bad. Better for a third-party to develop a new…system.”
Recently, he said, “I called [the CUC] water department as I was having pounding pipes. A CUC staffer came out, says it was on my side, then later he found out the neighbor has pounding pipes. He then said [that CUC] really has a pump issue, and this is up in I Denni.”
Benson said CUC later told him to turn his water pressure down. “I turned it down; I still have the pounding issue, and now I also don’t have water pressure. I am still having big problems. I have not called again. I don’t know where to go from here, but again this is a part of the system, the reporting and receiving feedback is an issue,” Benson told the CUC board.
In June, Benson asked the CUC board to improve its system for new accounts.
He told the board that his son, who is in Washington, called the utility company there, “and they switched him on — that’s all it took; it didn’t require applications, and problems and seeing management, which is an incredible waste of everybody’s time.”
Benson added, “I hope that you really look at finding outside help, a third-party to evaluate CUC’s system — you might find out that it may save you a lot of money.”
CUC board member Matthew Holley said Benson “got the ball rolling” after airing his concerns in June.
Holley said there have been some improvements to CUC customer service. “Our customer service is our frontline, and they are the ones our customers will remember the most,” he added.
“I [also] think a third-party auditor is something for the board to consider — just to see where we can improve, our system, and what areas we can work on,” he said.
For his part, CUC Executive Director Gary Camacho said they recently “looked at the organizational chart of the water division, and we see many deficiencies…so the internal issues are there, the inefficiencies are there, [and they are] rolling over to customer service.”
Camacho said CUC management is working and coordinating with the water division, customer service, and engineering to address some of the system’s inefficiencies.
He said CUC will also expand a training program for its customer service representatives and reorganize its water operation system while providing information to customers more efficiently and effectively.
