Bill to extend grace period to pay CUC bills, remove disconnection fee now law

CNMI power consumers now have a little more time to pay their electric utilities after a bill extending the grace period from 21 to 30 days was signed into law last Friday by acting governor Ralph DLG Torres.

House Bill 19-51, which is now Public Law 19-27, also removes the $15 disconnection notice fee of the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to power consumers who fall behind in their payment of utility bills.

Authored by Rep. Francis S. Taimanao (Ind-Saipan), H.B. 19-51 passed the House last June 14 after being referred to the House Committee on Public Utilities, Transportation, and Communications. It subsequently got the nod of the Senate last Nov. 3 without amendments.

According to the bill’s findings, “The Legislature finds that there are residents of our great Commonwealth that struggle to pay for their utility services, many of whom are dependent on government assistance such as the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Social Security, and disability benefits in order to pay for such services.”

Unfortunately, the measure said, “the financial assistance received by these residents only occur on a monthly basis while the given grace period before disconnection after the billing date is only 21 days.”

The removal of CUC’s Disconnection Notice-Electric Fee of $15, meanwhile, will take effect upon approval by the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission.

The signing of the bill into law was well received by the islands’ power consumers.

Anastasia Scott of San Vicente said this is the right move, considering the hardships people of the community went through the past several months, most especially after the onslaught of Typhoon Soudelor.

“I think they should give an extra month for people to pay because most of those that are behind on paying I’m sure have such a very tight budget each month that they need to save little by little,” she said.

Scott suggested that CUC come up with a repayment plan where a customer adds $20 to each month’s bill.

“In the repayment plan, as long as a customer is paying their current bill in full and paying an agreed upon amount for their overdue balance, power wouldn’t be shut off,” she said.

Marianas High School’s Jim Feger is also on board with the new law because it essentially buys time for people to make payments on their utility bills.

“That would give a person two paycheck periods to make a payment. And if a person was disconnected for non-payment, then there would be no $15 re-connection fee if that person was able to make full payment. OK, if that is the case, I’m not against that policy. So, the [acting] governor is making a statement, ‘Don’t penalize someone who is too poor pay their CUC bill.’ I’m OK with that!” he said.

For Marylyn Montano of Gualo Rai, the new law is definitely good news for CNMI power consumers.

“They’re giving us more time to pay our CUC bills and we can avoid disconnection of power. We are happy that no more $15 connection fee. Thank you [acting] governor for signing the bill,” she said.

Ernie Moises of Garapan shared Montano’s gratitude to the administration of Gov. Eloy S. Inos for the bill’s passage into law, especially in light of Soudelor.

“That’s good because a lot of people until now have not yet recovered from all the damage left by Typhoon Soudelor. The government did the right thing. I really appreciate the law’s passage.”

Boat captain and local mixed martial arts promoter Justis “Cuki” Alvarez, however, thinks that there may be some ulterior motive to the passage of the bill.

“Some people will love it and some will not care. Those who will welcome it are those who are desperate or are looking for free hand outs. Others will ask, why the new bill? What’s the purpose? Is it a way to lure us into supporting their plans (whatever that may be) by going out of their way to help the people? A lot of crazy arbitrary rules happening lately up on the [Capital] Hill…” he told Saipan Tribune.