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Active CUC customers continue to drop
About 500 fewer electric users this year
The number of power, water, and sewer customers of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. continues to drop.
Records obtained from the utilities corporation show that among electric customers alone, the number of active patrons dropped by 516 this year.
As of June 30 this year, CUC’s active power customers totaled 14,302, a slight drop compared to the 14,818 power customers during the same period last year.
The same CUC data revealed that in just a month’s time, the number of power consumers further declined to 13,963 as of July 4, 2012-a reduction of 339 customers.
A decline in active patrons was also noted in water service. As of June 30 last year, there were 9,894 active water customers but this declined to 9,566 in June 2012-a reduction of 328 individuals. The downward trend continues as CUC posted only 9,211 active water customers on July 4, 2012-a reduction of 355 customers.
For wastewater service, CUC lost 209 active users, with just 2,579 in June 2012, down from the 2,788 posted in June 2011. This number further went down to 2,527 as of July 4 this year.
CUC chief financial officer Charles Warren defines an active customer as one who receives a bill for services during the month.
He attributed the large declines in active customers to the general economic slowdown being experienced on the island and impact of federal immigration issues.
Since the federal government took over the labor and immigration system of the Commonwealth, many nonresident workers have left the islands while many local residents opted to relocate off-island due to lack of employment opportunities and economic hardship.
“Based on the numbers, we have about 500 fewer electric customers now than a year ago. This is a drop of a little over 3 percent [and] we attribute the decline to the general economic slowdown and immigration issues,” Warren told Saipan Tribune.
By Moneth Deposa
Reporter
