Propst wants prison for overcharging landlords

Gretchen (not her real name), who shares a tiny studio-type unit with her two siblings, pays her landlord a flat fee of over $400 a month for rent and utilities, which includes internet, water, power, and garbage disposal. Over $80 goes to her power bill. That means she pays her landlord about 43 cents per kWh a month.

The Commonwealth Utilities Corp.’s residential rate for power use up to 350 kWh is at 2 cents per kWh. Noting that Gretchen usually uses up 210 kWh a month, she should be paying around only $50 each month—not $80. And that $50 already includes CUC’s $7 monthly customer charge for residential areas.

If Gretchen is paying based on her actual power consumption and not the inflated rate, she would save about $360 in 12 months.

Yet this is not a rare occurrence but is actually common practice among landlords, who overcharge their tenants’ use of electricity by imposing a higher rate per kWh. If Rep. Edwin K. Propst (Ind-Saipan) would have his way, these landlords would go to prison.

Propst, who expressed indignation about this malpractice in a Facebook post, told Saipan Tribune yesterday that he has already reached out to CUC executive director Gary Camacho, the Office of the Attorney General, and the House legal counsel to ask if it were legal to charge tenants a power rate that is well over CUC’s power rates.

Propst noted that some of his constituents pay nearly 50 cents per kWh to their landlords, while CUC only charges two cents for kWh levels up to 350 for residential areas.

“I don’t accept that. I [believe] this is ripping off our own people and this is unconscionable,” Propst said. “They are basically already charged rent and then higher usage fees for utilities.”

Propst added that Saipan residents in other precincts are also complaining.

“It’s in Puerto Rico, in Garapan, it’s in different places around the island. These landlords are originally not from here, so I don’t even understand why they would do this in the first place,” he said.

Propst noted that he is unsure about the legality of charging more than the CUC power rate. However, he noted, that absent legislation preventing this and if it is not illegal to do so, Propst said he would introduce legislation to make this practice illegal to protect “…our people from this robbery.”

“I don’t want just a fine, I want the person to go to jail for doing this,” he said.