THE Commonwealth Utilities Corporation has issued disconnection notices to other CNMI government agencies, including the CNMI Supreme Court and the Office of the Attorney General.
Asked about the disconnection notices, CUC Board Chair Janice Tenorio confirmed that they were sent out, but she declined to elaborate.
CUC legal counsel Hunter Hunt has advised the board not to divulge the content of the notices “because they have specific customer account information.”
Besides the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation and the Department of Public Works, CUC also issued disconnection notices on May 3 to the Bureau of Environmental & Coastal Quality, the local Supreme Court, the Legislative Bureau and the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation with a final due date for payment on May 17, and a date of disconnection on May 18.
Variety learned that the Legislative Bureau owes CUC $38,487, but the amount is being disputed by the LB.
DPW owes CUC $1.12 million; BECQ, $50,927; and NMHC, $547,769, Variety learned.
The CNMI Supreme Court, for its part, owes CUC $2.48 million while CHCC, which owes CUC $53.6 million, has agreed to make monthly payments of $525,000.
A community member, who requested anonymity, told Variety: “So embarrassing. The judiciary issuing orders to people to pay their debts and now the judiciary is not paying its own CUC bills…. This is serious. There are collection cases in the judiciary. It creates problems because the judiciary owes money to one of the parties in all those other cases. There is a conflict of interest.”
Regarding the AG’s office, the community member said: “Another conflict. The AGO represents some of those departments including CUC.”
On May 10, CUC issued disconnection notices to the Marianas Visitors Authority, the Office of the Mayor of the Northern Islands, Northern Marianas College, the NMI Retirement Fund, and the Tinian Casino Gaming Control Commission with a final due date of payment on May 24, and a date of disconnection on May 25.
As of press time Wednesday, Variety was unable to obtain information about the amounts owed by those agencies.
NMC President Galvin Deleon Guerrero, EdD issued the following statement on Wednesday: “With 15 years of clean audits, the college has a proven track record of managing our resources well, which includes paying our bills on time. Periodically, questions about utility charges and discrepancies may be raised that require dialogue with CUC. In the end, NMC is committed to resolving any and all such issues.”
