Norbert Hofschneider said this was his cousin’s experience on Tuesday with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. and Telesource Inc., which operates Tinian’s power plant.
He said his cousin Pete Villagomez called CUC at 3:30 p.m. to request for a power reconnection at their residence in Marpo Heights.
“His children needed the light to their study at night,” he said.
A Telesource lineman arrived at 4:15 p.m. but failed to connect the power, he said.
Villagomez said the lineman asked, “Who’s going to pay for my overtime?”
“It was a very inconsiderate act,” Hofschneider said as he also expressed disappointment with Telesource’s failure to hire local residents.
If that lineman is a local resident he would have attended to the problem, he said.
Hofschneider also accused Telesource of failing to maintain the power poles on Tinian.
Asked for comment, CUC-Tinian said Villagomez was a new applicant for power connection.
There’s a process that should be followed before the connection is undertaken, CUC said.
CUC, it added, has to inspect the area and the line from the power pole to ensure the safety of the customer.
After the inspection, CUC said it will coordinate with Telesource for “proper action.”
In a separate interview, Telesource said the customer had agreed to get his power connected in the morning.
“We didn’t refuse to connect. The customer agreed to do it in the morning,” Telesource said.
It added that it has also been hiring local residents for special projects.
“Why can’t they cross-train local residents,” Hofschneider said, adding that the government should prepare for a possible shortage of manpower now that immigration has been federalized.
He also believes that Telesource’s contract with the government is worth reviewing through an Open Government Act request.
Hofschneider said Telesource should observe the law requiring a workforce that is at least 20 percent local.
