House to hold fact-finding on CUC problem

The House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication would sit down with the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. Friday to discuss several issues affecting the agency, particularly problems on power outages.

According to committee chair and Vice Speaker Timothy Villagomez, the meeting is set at 9am. He said the meeting hopes to shed light on various problems besetting the utility corporation.

House consultant Mike Geisenger said the discussion, which he termed as a fact-finding meeting, would focus on power outages, its causes, and effects on the community.

He said that CUC had already forwarded to the committee its response to various issues raised by the House following complaints received from the community.

“We are still looking at it and we are reviewing it [CUC response]. The fact-finding on Friday would give us the opportunity to discuss all these issues,” said Geisenger.

Last week, Villagomez asked CUC to explain and clarify reports that the CNMI’s power system is “on the verge of a meltdown.” He asked CUC officials to meet with the committee to discuss the urgency of the situation, which could affect businesses and potential investors in the Northern Marianas.

“The committee is very anxious to discuss the problems that are plaguing the power generation system. The information that we have received described the situation as a serious crisis. Some have even suggested that the power system is on the verge of a meltdown,” said the vice speaker.

Because of what he described as the “urgency of the situation due to numerous scheduled power outages,” the PUTC hopes to conduct the meeting at the earliest convenient time.

According to the vice speaker, the meeting would not only dwell on the power outages but would explore other issues, including pending Capital Improvement Projects under CUC’s authority.

He said these power outages might be disrupting services not only in the government sector but private businesses as well. Also, a stable power supply is a measure used by potential investors and the lack of it would lessen possible business proposals.

The other issue that may be tackled Friday is the complaints on the pay scale reductions at the CUC in line with the salary restructuring at the agency.

The new compensation and reclassification regulation required by the Office of the Public Auditor, which was adopted in Jan. 2004, is aimed at setting a standard personnel classification and compensation at the utility firm. In adopting FLA’s findings, the CUC board raised the CUC’s entry annual pay to $15,000 from $11,000 and $13,000.

Aside from the restructuring of salary scale, the Fox Lawson Compensation Study also had recommended to CUC the incorporation of hazardous and night differential pay in the employee’s basic pay while typhoon and on-call pay will continue to be given on top of the basic pay.

Based on the audit report made by the OPA, it noted that almost 18 percent of the CUC personnel are receiving on-call pay, which was not addressed in its interim Personnel Manual.

The Fox Lawson and Associates also reported that overall, CUC employees’ salaries are below the national market but above the Pacific market and its benefit package is also above the market level.

It cited that overall, CUC salaries are: 1 percent below the overall market, 13.7 percent below the mainland market, and 15.1 percent above the Pacific market.

Fox Lawson said it ran three analyses and compared them with CUC. These included all participants (mainland and Pacific), mainland participants only, and Pacific participants only.