HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — The Guam Legislature chose not to take on a bill extending Guam’s energy credit program as session began Monday. The measure, Bill 208-37, failed to get enough votes to place on the session agenda.
While the bill didn’t make the agenda, it also hasn’t had a public hearing yet.
Its author, Sen. William Parkinson, stated that he knew colleagues held reservations because of that but noted that a prior extension measure also didn’t go through a hearing and was still discussed in its relevant session.
“I am extremely disappointed that this bill did not make it onto the agenda,” Parkinson stated in a press release after the vote Monday.
“We know that the Public Utilities Commission approved the rate hike last month, and the people of Guam are looking at a $100 increase in their power bill without the power credit, and an extra $30 increase due to the rate hike. … We should have had this conversation this month. We should have done better,” the senator added.
The Prugråman Ayuda Para I Taotao-ta Energy Credit Program has been providing $100 monthly credits to power customers since its initial implementation in mid-2022. The measure was first meant to last five months but has been extended multiple times through subsequent legislation. Credits last applied to December 2023 power billings.
In late January, the PUC authorized a power rate increase that would apply from February through July. For residents using an average of 1,000 kilowatt-hours per month, the rate increase translates to an additional $30.85 in power bills.
Bill 208 proposed to extend the credits three more months, to apply to billings for January through March.
The measure would appropriate about $15.8 million from the general fund for the credit extension. On Monday, Parkinson acknowledged that there are questions about funding “that we may or may not have these funds,” but he added that a conversation regarding that needed to at least happen even if it led to a rejection of the bill because the credit had expired and the rate hike was taking effect.
The January Consolidated Revenue and Expenditures Report for the general fund is delayed slightly due to the transition into a new government financial management system, but the report for December 2023 shows the fund’s net unobligated revenue to only be about $5 million. This is because of prior appropriations, including for the last energy credit extension, and projected shortfalls in the Healthy Futures Fund, which the general fund is anticipated to cover.
The Guam Power Authority and Guam Waterworks Authority payment center at Julale Center in Hagåtña on Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.
