Sirok: New developments should hook to CUC grid

Commonwealth Utilities Corp. legal counsel James Sirok has recommended to the joint House and Senate committees on Public Utilities, Transportation and Communication that new developments should be required to hook to the CUC grid if it is located on public land.

Sirok said he could work with the Legislature and its attorneys on grid connection for all leases of government lands to get large projects on CUC’s grid.

An incentive rate contract that was approved by the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission last year allows CUC to contract and attract large commercial customers onto their grid.

Sen. Arnold Palacios (R-Saipan) said it was ironic that at the end of the day ratepayers would be subsidizing developers’ power usage due to the incentive rate.

CUC rate consultant Dan V. Jackson of economist.com said that it is a very common practice for utility agencies to offer a very attractive rates in order to get customers back onto its grid and that was the whole purpose of the incentive rate contract.

In a separate interview, CUC board chair David Sablan Jr. said three major accounts have joined the first cycle for the introductory rate.

Sablan said the three have already signed up since the closing of the first cycle on Jan. 26, 2015. The next cycle will open in October this year so if others still want to return to the grid, they can sign up for that.

However, Sablan said the first cycle is different and the second cycle may change.

“The rate could change, that is why we have a second cycle. It may increase slightly but will not go below from what it is now so they may experience a higher rate than our first cycle but hopefully it will not go up that much,” Sablan said.

The three major businesses that signed up for the first cycle were Saipan World Resort, T-Galleria/Duty Free Saipan, and Mariana Resort and Spa.

Saipan World Resort special projects manager Jun Ham confirmed that they are customers of CUC but declined to comment further.

In a separate interview, Mariana Resort general manager Gloria Cavanagh said that they haven’t done the transfer yet but have signed up and turned in all their paperwork and are now just waiting to get back on CUC’s grid.

“It is the best solution for the CNMI to start using CUC and we will still maintain our power plants in case CUC would not be able to provide us with power in certain areas,” Cavanagh said.

She said if large consumers do not go back to the grid, CUC won’t be able to generate the money it needs for operation.

“I’d like to encourage for other commercial customers to get back on CUC grid. I already to spoke to DFS’ Mark Moss regarding this so we turned around and signed the papers,” she said.