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$300 CUC voucher a month for 3 months
Each residential customer will get $900 total CUC voucher
Ralph DLG Torres and David DLG Atalig
Gov. Ralph DLG Torres announced yesterday morning that the administration will be giving residential customers of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. $300 monthly vouchers for their electric bills in August, September, and October 2022, for a total of $900 each.
In response to Saipan Tribune’s inquiry for more details about the new voucher program, Finance Secretary David DLG Atalig disclosed yesterday afternoon that he will be giving $9 million more to CUC from the American Rescue Plan Act funding under the Household Assistance Section.
Instead of giving away a lump sum CUC voucher—like they did in the past—to help residential customers cope with the increased cost of electricity, Torres said they will be doing it per month this time.
“So if you use more than $300, then you pay for the difference. If you charge less than $300, then obviously it carries on to the next one,” Torres said.
Atalig said the first $7.5 million ARPA money that they gave CUC was used for the previous $500 voucher for residential customers. Atalig said the remaining balance from the $7.5 million was used for the $150 credit for CUC’s residential customers last month.In total, $650 vouchers have already been given to each residential customer of CUC, he added.
Under the new voucher program, it will be $300 per month for three months (August, September, and October), Atalig said.
Last Wednesday, CUC chief of administration Betty G. Terlaje disclosed during a meeting of the Judiciary and Governmental Operations Committee of the Saipan and Northern Islands Legislative Delegation that CUC’s $150 credit for its residential electric accounts in July came from the remaining $1.5 million balance out of the $7.5 million in ARPA funding that the administration gave to CUC for the previous $500 voucher program.
