Public Utilities Commission readies for shutdown in Jan.

In anticipation of no new appointments for more commissioners, the one-person Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission adopted an interim assessment order Tuesday as it readies for the commission’s closure next month.

Viola Alepuyo is currently the only member of the commission. Under the law, the commission is allowed to operate for only 60 days if it has just one commissioner. That 60-day period will expire on Jan. 30, 2012. The governor can extend this for just 30 days.

Pursuant to law, the commission must have at least five members. Alepuyo is the only one left following the resignation of other members, the latest of whom was Joaquin Manglona, who resigned on Nov. 1.

The Executive Branch has yet to name new commissioners as of yesterday.

Alepuyo, at the advice of the commission’s legal counsel and in collaboration with the hearing examiner, has approved an interim administrative assessment fee of $26,000 that will be collected from the agencies it regulates. The amount is the anticipated regulatory cost that will be incurred by the commission up to Jan. 30, 2012.

“In preparation for the anticipated closing on Jan. 30th until a new commissioner is appointed and confirmed, it is reasonable and necessary to impose interim administrative assessment on regulated utilities to retire outstanding fiscal year 2012 administrative expenses,” Alepuyo’s order states.

The interim regulatory fee will be split among three agencies: the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. will pay $16,640, while IT&E and GTA Services LLC will each pay $4,680.

According to Alepuyo, the commission anticipates 64 percent of its regulatory activities up to Jan. 30, 2012, to be devoted to CUC, while 18 percent will each be for IT&E and GTA Services.

CUC and the telecom companies were ordered to turn in the assessment fee within 30 days to Georgetown counsel Robert Torres, who will deposit the checks in a commission account.

A portion of the fee will be used to create the commission’s website in response to concerns about the “lack of transparency” in its activities.

Alepuyo said the commission, due to the urgency of the need to build its website, has also approved a sole source contract for a firm to do the job and the website’s maintenance. The charge, she said, is a one-time fee of $175 while maintenance will be a flat rate of $150 monthly. Alepuyo said the commission had solicited quotations from four companies but was able to get only one unresponsive response.

Alepuyo wants to see the commision’s website up and running before Dec. 30.

The commission is scheduled to hold a public hearing and a business meeting before Jan. 30 where it is expected to decide on several matters, including a pending CUC petition for water and wastewater rate increase and an emergency petition to increase its electric base rate that has yet to be filed.