“TO address arrears reflective of utility usage increase,” a new Memorandum of Understanding with the Commonwealth Healthcare Corporation needs to be executed, Commonwealth Utilities Corporation Acting Executive Director Betty Terlaje said.
Last year, CUC signed an MOU with CHCC in which CHCC agreed to pay $525,000 a month.
The MOU expired in May 2024, Terlaje said.
In an interview Thursday, Terlaje said, “CHCC has made good on their monthly payments pursuant to the MOU they’ve agreed to. There is one more payment due for April, but they’re still within their grace period. Unfortunately, CHCC’s usage has gone up, and the MOU was only reflective of their average before, when we executed the MOU. So, that resulted in the receivables increasing. We will discuss this with CHCC CEO Esther Muna so we can resolve this in a way that works for both our agencies.”
According to Terlaje, CHCC and CUC must come up with a new MOU to address arrears that reflect an increase in utility usage.
“We just discussed it on a board level, and they have reconfirmed that I try to meet with Esther Muna and present to her our options,” Terlaje said, referring to the CUC board.
“I will probably send a letter out soon and see when she can accommodate me so I can meet with her, and we’ll talk about the options and how to move forward and resolve this matter. That’s what I want to do. I don’t want to take it further and get messy with it. I would like to see how we could resolve this matter at our level. We hope to have another MOU with them to address the arrears especially now since their usage has gone up. That $525,000 amount should be changed to reflect their current usage and to address their arrears. There is no new MOU, and the old MOU was strictly for one year to allow CHCC to come up with a plan to resolve their arrears. We haven’t heard from them, but we are hoping that they will have some resolution to the matter,” she added.
Variety learned that under the new proposed MOU, CUC is requesting CHCC to pay $799,090 a month.
