CUC owed $21.7M by customers; $45.2M collected since Oct. 2011

To date, the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. has about $21.7 million in total collectibles from customers, including government and private entities.

CUC chief financial officer Charles Warren disclosed yesterday that the bulk of the amount are receivables from the agency’s three biggest customers: the central government, the Commonwealth Health Center, and the Public School System. Together the three owe CUC a total of $9.3 million as of yesterday.

As of May 21, about $12.4 million is also owed by other classes of customers, Warren said.

CUC records show that residential customers owe CUC $8.6 million as of last month while commercial customers account for $3.8 million. Both figures are net of disputed amounts.

Since the start of the fiscal year in October last year through March this year, CUC also collected $45.2 million but Warren emphasized that this amount may change as the agency updates its financial records with April data.

“As for collections for this fiscal year, commercial and residential accounts have both paid over 100 percent of billings, due to aggressive collection of older, prior year receivables. The CNMI government accounts have paid about 63 percent of billings,” he said.

Meantime, Warren disclosed that CUC did not adopt a position on the bankruptcy petition earlier filed by the NMI Retirement Fund that was dismissed last week. But with the denial of the bankruptcy petition, he said the lawsuit between the Fund and CUC remains ongoing. “The lawsuit is still in progress. Now that the Fund’s bankruptcy petition has been denied, our case should be back in Judge [Kenneth] Govendo’s court.”

Warren said that CUC disagrees with the figures the Retirement Fund claims it owes in employer contributions. “Basically, CUC feels its obligation to the Fund is about $1.4 million. The Funds thinks it is closer to $4 million,” he said.

The Fund is suing the utilities corporation and is demanding payment of $4.44 million, including penalties and damages. It said that CUC is delinquent in contributions by $3.1 million as of April 2011 and seek a penalty amounting to $740,462 through the end of fiscal year 2010 and economic damages amounting to $527,716. The Fund also wants the court to declare that CUC’s attempt to pass on its obligation to the central government is fraudulent and void.

CUC later came up with settlement proposal using different calculations of the owed amount, citing various laws enacted in previous years. Negotiations between the two agencies has so far failed.