Under this program, Georgetown said ratepayers will no longer accept excuses such as lack of spare parts, money, or manpower to attend the repair and maintenance of CUC’s power engines.
“It is incumbent that CUC create a culture where maintenance is an ongoing responsibility and not an exception; otherwise it will not be capable of meeting a strategic objective of financial independence if it is unable to simply ‘keep the lights on,’ ” Georgetown said in its report.
According to the consulting group, CUC was able to improve its power production facilities and its cash position for the past six months.
CUC is capable of “fully supplying” customer demand now that several of its power engines have been rehabilitated, and some are in the final stages of rehabilitation, Georgetown said.
“When completed,” it added, “these actions will put CUC into a position it has not seen in years — eliminate the needless exposure of customers to endless outages, poor availability, and the high cost of the inefficiencies introduced by operating the electric system sub-optimally.”
Georgetown noted that the recommended maintenance schedules for CUC’s engines were ignored and allowed to lapse for years, resulting in prolonged outages and leading to economic loss to Saipan businesses, generating unit unavailability, and higher rates due to poor unit efficiencies.
CUC’s diesel engines require maintenance, and failure to purchase spare parts or deferring maintenance will not eliminate the need for maintenance, Georgetown said.
It will only subject ratepayers to outages, higher costs, and jeopardize the integrity of CUC’s diesel engines, the consulting group added.
Still, according to Georgetown, CUC has moved from an extraordinarily weak financial and operational position to a position where it can administer its financial management.
But CUC’s cash position is greatly impacted by CNMI government receivables and this will force the agency back into a day-to-day crisis if the government cannot pay promptly its obligations to the utilities corporation, Georgetown said.
