CUC: Beneficiaries of free water delivery service may be disconnected customers

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp. is concerned about the free water delivery service being provided by the Saipan Mayor’s Office, saying its beneficiaries might be the utility agency’s customers who have been disconnected for not paying their bills.

Paul Raczkowski, CUC Water/Wastewater operations manager, recently met with Mayor Donald G. Flores and special adviser Henry Hofschneider at the Mayor’s Office in Ladera Center to discuss the matter.

“We have to do something about these water deliveries,” Raczkowski told Flores and Hofschneider at the start of the meeting.

Raczkowski said those who call the Mayor’s Office to request for water delivery service might be people whom their agency had to disconnect “for one reason or another.”

According to Raczkowski, CUC aims to provide 24-hour water on the islands but that goal cannot be achieved unless the agency is able to plan for the amount of water that the community needs and having people who take water without CUC’s knowledge get in the way.

While there are some residents who are really in need of water service due to CUC’s inadequacy, Raczkowski noted that there are people who find ways to pay for their other bills such as cable television or phone but refuse to pay water, which “is probably the cheapest” among these bills.

“We need to stop and curtail the water deliveries to people who have been shut off,” he emphasized.

Raczkowski also said that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has tasked CUC to account for the water. Although the water delivered by the Mayor’s Office is “not a huge amount,” he said it is something that they still have to account for.

He warned that paying customers will end up shouldering the cost of the water that goes to those who do not pay for it “and that’s not fair to our customers.”

Flores pointed out, however, that his office receives legitimate calls from residents who do not have access to CUC’s water service. Other times, there are callers who would say that a family member is ill and that lack of water would jeopardize that individual’s health.

Flores said that residents in need of water can actually survive during the rainy season since they can get rain water from their own catchments, so it is the dry season that is more challenging.

In several instances, he said, government agencies and public schools have also asked for water delivery service from the Mayor’s Office.

Hofschneider said the mayor is mandated to deliver water “but only to indigent families” and added that they are working on drawing up regulations that would clear up this particular issue.

“The problem is that there are always people who take advantage,” replied Raczkowski. “That’s what we’re trying to solve.”

Raczkowski suggested that the Mayor’s Office pay for the water they get from CUC and deliver to the public, but Flores maintained that their financial situation won’t allow them to cough up funding for additional cost.

In the end, both offices agreed to work on the issue by having the Mayor’s Office establish a new form for people requesting for their water delivery service. This form incorporates questions asking callers not just for their basic information but also checks if they have a CUC account and if it has been disconnected.

The Mayor’s Office will share the forms each month with CUC, which will verify if any of the clients are disconnected customers of the utility agency.

Flores also asked Raczkowski to look into the possibility of setting up a payment scheme for disconnected customers to afford them the opportunity to get hooked to a CUC water source again.

CUC executive director Abe Malae told Saipan Tribune that the Mayor’s Office has always backed up their agency when there is no water for schools or other members of the community.

“We agreed that customers who were disconnected water service for non-payment should not be delivered water by the water truck until their accounts are settled,” Malae said.