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Fletcher: Credit vouchers a one-time-only credit per account
The $10-million credit vouchers issued by Best Sunshine Int. Ltd. as a gift to Saipan utility customers is a one-time-only credit per account, according to Commonwealth Utilities Corp. executive director Alan Fletcher.
Fletcher told Saipan Tribune yesterday that accounts are still being looked at and there is still no estimated number of how many residential accounts will be eligible until a final number is met.
“Every residential account that we have includes those that have electricity but no water or wastewater, those that have water and wastewater but no power and those that have it all, so we are still looking at everything and still going through as to how many we are going to input into their account,” he said.
The credit vouchers will be applied to a resident’s account as the October billing, which will be received by November.
“It’s a one-time application process because not everyone has the same rate. Others have close to $1,000 billings while the average is usually between $300 to $400, so if we take that and input it into their account it might pay the full amount or half,” Fletcher said.
For example, if CUC finds that it has about 17,000 residential consumers, the $10 million will be divided and distributed into their accounts for an estimated amount of $588, which is only one time use and won’t be applied each month.
“Whatever credit that is left for the customer, they can use it again if they want to, and for those who have really high consumption, it might only pay half. But as for now we hope to have it all in place by the end of this month,” he said.
Fletcher said the program has strict limitations. It is limited to one credit-voucher “per CUC account number and are not dependent on the number of people living at the service location.”
All unused voucher credits will expire on Oct. 31, 2015.
“We hope to have it all in place and are working on the details and that it is always important to remember that the credit-vouchers have no cash value,” he said.
