GOVERNOR Ralph DLG Torres on Monday announced that $300 in utility vouchers will be provided to each CNMI resident in August, September, and October.
“Instead of a lump sum like we did in the past, we’re doing it per month,” he said.
If ratepayers use more than $300 of the allotted voucher, they will have to pay the difference. If not, then the funds carry over to the next billing cycle.
For July, CUC said each of the active residential electric accounts were credited $150.
The fuel price hikes in the past few months resulted in a significant increase in the July fuel adjustment charge or FAC that the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. collects to pay for the fuel needed by its power plants.
But with the recent decline in fuel prices, CUC has announced a decrease in the FAC for August. CUC said it has been reduced by $0.06044 (6 cents) from $0.43285 per kWh to $0.37241 per kWh effective Aug. 1, 2022.
Alternative energy
The governor said the CNMI will continue to seek more alternative energy sources, such as solar energy, especially given the fluctuating prices of fuel.
He said there are a lot of factors to consider, including the ripple effects of the global Covid-19 pandemic.
“But nevertheless, we continue to move forward in making sure that we give our community the best opportunities to get lower rates,” he added,
Secretary of Finance David DLG Atalig, for his part, noted that a spending bill that is expected to be passed by the U.S. Congress provides a significant amount of funding for clean energy.
“A lot of the money is for clean energy, and this will help some of the projects that we have with CUC in terms of alternative energy. In fact, I’ll be meeting with [CUC Executive] Director Gary Camacho this morning about other projects, and we’ll be discussing…this bill,” he said, referring to the $430 billion bill that its proponents say will fight climate change, lower drug prices and raise some corporate taxes.
Ralph DLG Torres
