.and one area of the hospital so far

The lone public hospital on Saipan was not spared, with a portion of the Commonwealth Health Center losing its power yesterday as part of a spate of disconnections implemented by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. for delinquent customers.

It was not immediately known which part of the hospital lost its power supply but CUC chief financial administrative officer Charles Warren assured that it was not a critical area.

Besides the hospital, the administrative offices of six public schools and the Public School System central offices were also disconnected yesterday afternoon due to unpaid bills. Today, more public schools and more areas in the hospital are expected to be cut off from the grid as well.

“We will continue the disconnection [today] on these agencies, unless payments are made to CUC,” Warren said.

He said that as of 6pm Tuesday, only one area of the hospital had been disconnected but CUC’s crew will continue their efforts today. He said they have identified more than two dozen non-critical areas in the public hospital that may also lose their power.

According to Warren, CUC had asked both PSS and the Commonwealth Healthcare Corp. for a list of their non-critical departments but only the corporation submitted one. “We never did receive a list from PSS and only CHC provided us the list of its non-critical areas which we are disconnecting now.”

Receivables

Warren bared that CUC currently has $9 million in receivables from three of its biggest customers on Saipan. As of Feb. 29, CUC has $9,035,415.43 receivables from the central government, the Public School System, and the healthcare corporation.

PSS owes the biggest amount, $4,134,424.48, covering about 16 months of unpaid bills. It is followed by the central government with $2,865,772.96, and CHC, which owes $2,035,217.99

Of the three, only the central government was spared from being disconnected from the power grid yesterday. CUC officials said that it is making payments and adhering to the terms of a memorandum of agreement.

Warren disclosed that the central government makes regular weekly payments of $250,000 to CUC and usually includes $50,000 extra for the old balance for public schools.

The Fitial administration earlier agreed to shoulder $1.7 million of the $3 million that PSS owes CUC to offset unremitted allotments for PSS in previous fiscal years.

Although a formal agreement between the parties has yet to be signed, Warren said the central government is already paying its $1.7 million share bit by bit.

“The central government is fine and will not be disconnected because it is paying regularly-$250,000 weekly and usually include the $50,000 extra for PSS,” he said.

No payments

Since the corporation took over the hospital’s operation in October 2011, nothing has been paid to CUC, Warren said. Attempts of CUC to meet with corporation officials also failed, according to him.

“We’re reaching a critical point and we’re having inability to fund our operation now,” he said, describing the decision to disconnect non-critical departments of both CHC and PSS as a difficult situation, but necessary for the survival of the utilities corporation.

CUC executive director Abe Utu Malae is hopeful that both agencies will soon address their outstanding billings to CUC.

“CHC has been unable to pay any amount to its account to CUC since the CHC authority was formed. Total owing: $2 million and growing. CUC worked with CHC and its contractor to install the Automatic Transfer Switch at the hospital to allow flexibility in power supply for that critical facility. We were hopeful when CHC management and the administration worked on the funding bill that was introduced in the Legislature,” added Malae.