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‘CUC owes PMIC $954,000’
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Posted on Aug 19 2008
The current power crisis at the Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s power plants has resulted in the privately-run Power Plant 4 in Puerto Rico going beyond its budget for this year, according to a company official.
This came as CUC reportedly owes Power Plant 4 operator, Pacific Marine and Industrial Corp., about $954,000, of which about $570,000 is due this month.
PMIC general manager Narciso Paradela told Saipan Tribune that the power crisis at CUC’s power plants in Lower Base triggered an increase in the company’s variable costs against their operational budget for 2008.
The costs, Paradela said, came in form of more spares being consumed, maintenance cost and additional overtime costs to maintain the nine power engines.
Such increases occurred, he said, because when they prepared their budget last year, they based it on the contracted power supply to CUC of only 10.1 megawatts.
“But because of the power crisis, Power Plant 4 has been supplying CUC 14.7 megawatts or an increase of about 46 percent,” the general manager pointed out.
In addition, he said, PMIC’s preventive maintenance schedules have been accelerated due to the increase of operating hours.
The PMIC official believes that even if Aggreko International’s power engines begin operating in mid-September, Power Plant 4 would still need to run at full capacity due to the condition of Power Plant 1.
“Also, being ourselves operators of Aggreko units, we know that they are not perfect and may have problems from time to time,” Paradela added.
Power Plant 4 has reportedly been saving the islands’ electric power distribution in the middle of malfunctions and current repairs on power engines at CUC’s main power plants.
CUC executive director Antonio Muna had earlier stated that the PMIC-operated Power Plant 4 is a key component in the power distribution system, delivering over 30 percent of the island’s power needs.
CUC’s contract with PMIC was renewed in 2006 for another 10 years.
