Camacho accompanied Congressional Delegate-elect Gregorio C. Sablan to Washington, D.C. recently to attend the orientation seminar for freshmen lawmakers.
During their trip, they met with officials of the U.S. Department of the Interior like Office of Insular Affairs Director Nik Pula.
Camacho said OIA told them that “federal funds may be reprogrammed and authorized to solve the power crisis. The only thing required from the CNMI is for the House of Representatives, the Senate, and the governor to come up with a plan. What is needed is a unified workable plan to provide affordable and reliable power to the people of the CNMI.”
The lawmaker said Saipan’s power crisis has three causes.
“First is the price of fuel. There are some things that can be done to reduce reliance on expensive fossil fuel especially with alternative energy, but presently for the most part we are at the mercy of the global market,” he said.
“Second is the management and personnel of [the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.]. Though performance-based management and accountability can reduce waste and mismanagement, ultimately people are still needed to run CUC.
“Third is the sad state of the engines at the power plant. Should we buy new engines? Should we repair some engines? What is the plan?” he added.
CUC is currently renting Aggreko’s generators for $504,000 every month or $6 million a year.
This money could have been used to buy new power engines, Camacho said.
