Utility firms celebrate American Public Power Week

Staff from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. on both Saipan and Tinian joined up with the Guam POWER Authority Saturday at the Garapan Fishing Base to celebrate the 3rd Annual Linemen’s Rodeo, which highlights American Public Power Week.

The participating firms joined 2,000 other utility firms throughout the United States in celebrating APP Week.

According to planning committee chair Gary Camacho of CUC-Saipan, the event pays tribute to all linemen and promotes the occupation as “a professional type of job.”

Camacho said the annual event also builds relationships among utility staff from participating firms.

“We get together during more difficult times to assist each other in recovery, and this is a nice time to get together annually where we can actually enjoy each other’s company and get to know each other,” he said.

The celebration began with a motorcade, followed by an opening ceremony and various games, including the pole climbing race, material handling race, linemen’s basketball, pole framing contest, and the transformer installation contest.

Buckets rides were also available for the public.

The event also featured various exhibits and CUC trucks demonstrations.

Camacho said that, although celebration during the past years involved firms within the Marianas, plans are already underway to include other islands within Micronesia.

“We plan on continuing this and…incorporating other islands and inviting them…like Palau and Pohnpei,” he said.

Camacho said the event was originally planned to be held in Rota, but was changed due to the effects of the several storms experienced in the Marianas the past months.

“Chaba and Tingting made it difficult to schedule that,” Camacho said. “We would make a commitment if Rota is interested in hosting next year. We’ve also received interest from Guam to host [the event].”

Energy Conservation

Also taking part in the celebration was the Department of Public Works Energy Division, which set up an exhibit promoting energy conservation.

“We want to educate the public on energy awareness and ways to conserve energy,” said division director Thelma Inos.

The division provided various pamphlets for adults and children, but focused more on introducing the Compact Florescent Lamps, which use less energy compared with other light bulbs.

Inos said a 15-watt CFL bulb is equivalent to a 60-watt regular bulb, providing enough light while consuming less energy.

“[Energy conservation] is one way to reduce power consumption and would reduce the demand at CUC,” Inos said.

Further, Inos said a book on reducing energy cost is currently available at the Energy Division office on Capitol Hill. “This is a very resourceful book. It guides you step by step on how to do an energy audit of your house,” she said.

The division began distributing the book about two months ago for free.

For more information on the book or the CFL bulbs, contact the Energy Division at 664-4480/1.