By Bryan Manabat
[email protected]
Variety News Staff
COMMONWEALTH Utilities Corporation board legal counsel Michael Ernest told the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission on June 18 that the utility is “not sitting on piles of gold,” pushing back against what he described as persistent misinformation about CUC’s financial condition.
Speaking during the public comment portion of the CPUC meeting, Ernest said the CUC board has agreed to begin transmitting the executive director’s and chief financial officer’s reports directly to the commission in an effort to improve transparency.
“The board has decided that there’s a lot of misinformation or lack of information going around,” Ernest said. “So, in an attempt to maybe alleviate some of that, we’re happy to share the executive director’s reports that the board receives and the chief financial officer’s reports that the board receives.”
Ernest said the reports will be provided in whatever format the CPUC prefers, whether through a single commissioner, CPUC legal counsel, or all commissioners and staff.
“We’re happy to provide it to you in however you tell us to,” he said.
The first executive director’s report totaled 98 pages, Ernest noted, and the CFO’s report is expected to follow. He said CUC also plans to provide the same reports to the governor, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the Office of the CNMI Congressional Delegate.
“So it’s an effort to show the true financial status of CUC,” Ernest said. “I believe there’s a lot of misinformation. People think we’re sitting on piles of gold, and we’re not. It’s to the point now where we really have to combat the misinformation and disinformation.”
Ernest said the utility wants to ensure policymakers and the public are making decisions based on accurate information.
“It’s the old adage in reporting, the person said ‘no comment,’ and that opened the gates for misinformation,” he said. “People make decisions based on the information they have, and if we’re not giving the right information, then perhaps people are making poorly informed decisions.”
Redaction explained
Ernest also addressed a redaction in the executive director’s report transmitted to the CPUC, saying it was made solely for employee safety.
The report originally listed the names of employees who had temporarily changed duty stations from Saipan to other islands. Ernest said CUC determined it was unwise to publicly disclose that certain employees would be away from home for extended periods.
“This is not an attempt to shield or hide any information,” he said. “It’s just for the safety of our employees. We acknowledge that the information is discoverable, but we choose not to affirmatively provide it at this time.”
He said future reports may identify employees by position title rather than by name to avoid similar concerns.
“But just this time, because the change in duty station is for an extended period of time and off-island, we thought it might present a security concern,” Ernest said.
He emphasized that the redaction was the only one made to the report.
CUC’s move to provide regular reports comes as the utility continues to face public scrutiny over power costs, storm-related recovery spending and the pace of its financial disclosures.
The CPUC is an independent regulatory agency responsible for overseeing CUC’s operations, rates, financial practices and compliance with public utility laws.
Bryan Manabat was a liberal arts student of Northern Marianas College where he also studied criminal justice. He is the recipient of the NMI Humanities Award as an Outstanding Teacher (Non-Classroom) in 2013, and has worked for the CNMI Motheread/Fatheread Literacy Program as lead facilitator.
