House Bill 16-142 now becomes Public Law 16-14.
The government ended the hiring of nonresidents at CUC last year but this resulted in more work hours for local employees.
Several plant workers told lawmakers they hardly take day offs because they have no relievers.
They said their exhaustion is taking its toll on their productivity which also exposes them to safety hazards.
Bureaucracy
In another communication to the Legislature, the governor commended lawmakers for passing the bill that exempts the Aggreko contract from the Public Utilities Commission’s scrutiny which he said would have further delayed the delivery of its rented generators to Saipan.
PUC wants to review first the U.K.-based Aggreko International Power Projects Ltd.’s rented generators’ contract with CUC.
PUC said CUC is a public utility agency whose activities are subject to its powers.
But the governor said PUC has no staff and experience in regulating CUC and any delay on the Aggreko generators would have made matters worse for Saipan residents.
“I intended that we have no more, potentially deadly, delay based on legalistic interpretations of the PUC Act,” said the governor.
“If Tony Muna [CUC executive director] is to solve our power crisis, we must not tie his hands with time-consuming, unnecessary bureaucratic pre-reviews. The language of my directive makes clear that PUC is to focus on its main job — rates, charges, and the cost of serving our citizens — and not on trying to run a utility company. PUC can examine the contracts at the proper time,” he added.
Aggreko will be paid $504,000 a month for its 15 megawatts generators.
The machines are anticipated to produce electricity by Sept. 12.
