Vincent Aldan
REPRESENTATIVE Vincent “Kobre” Aldan has pre-filed House Bill 24-53, which would exempt Commonwealth Utilities Corp. from the 1% public auditor’s fee.
According to the bill, which Aldan will introduce in the House session on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, the fee imposed on CUC “is passed through to consumers and often exceeds the actual value of services received.”
The 1% auditor’s fee, imposed by Public Law 3-91 or the Commonwealth Auditing Act, is collected from all government entities except the Public School System and Commonwealth Ports Authority. The funds are deposited into the general fund and may be spent by the Office of the Public Auditor without further appropriation.
In a statement on Friday, Aldan said H.B. 24-53 “ensures fairness to ratepayers, while also strengthening transparency and accountability at CUC, which already undergoes federally mandated independent audits.” He added that his bill will make sure the public utility pays only for actual services it received, not “blanket fees” that drive up costs for consumers.
Importantly, the lawmaker said, the current 1% public auditor fee “is not a cost that CUC can pass on to ratepayers. By law, it cannot be recovered from consumers or anyone else. Eliminating it simply allows CUC to retain its limited resources for power and water services.”
Aside from exempting CUC from the auditor fee, H.B. 24-53 also seeks to forgive arrears CUC owes the CNMI government for the fee. The bill likewise requires CUC to procure independent audits annually, mandates timely reporting of audits to the Legislature, the governor, and the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission, and imposes financial penalties for late compliance.
Aldan added that his bill reaffirms the Office of the Public Auditor’s constitutionally guaranteed $500,000 minimum appropriation and establishes a cost-based framework for any future OPA services to CUC.
“This measure gives CUC breathing room to focus its resources on its core mission — keeping the lights on, the water running, and rates as low as possible for the people of the CNMI,” Aldan said.
