SAIPAN — Rep. Vincent R. Aldan brought a plain-language public transparency chart to Thursday’s Commonwealth Utilities Corporation Board of Directors meeting, walking the board through a detailed breakdown of how opaque utility billing creates conditions for unverifiable and potentially unjustified cost recovery.
The chart, presented during the April 9 regular board meeting, compared what customers currently see on their utility bills against what should be disclosed for meaningful public accountability. Aldan identified seven billing line items where missing detail can obscure problems, including the Customer Charge, Water Service Fee, Electric Usage, Water Usage, Fuel Adjustment Charge, Water Electric Charge, and totals.
On the Fuel Adjustment Charge specifically, Aldan noted that if the bill shows only a single FAC dollar amount, customers cannot verify whether the correct rate, proration method or usage allocation was applied. The FAC has been the subject of sustained public scrutiny since CUC announced its full calculated April 2026 fuel charge reached $0.44489 per kilowatt-hour, an 81.59 percent increase over the current rate.
Aldan also identified seven locations within a bill where hidden cost recovery can be buried without triggering any visible red flag, including inside fixed charge labels, inside the base rate, inside FAC math, inside tier classifications, inside undefined specialty labels, inside cross-allocations between electric and water services, and inside totals that show only final figures without underlying math.
He closed with a direct statement for ratepayers and the board.
“If a customer cannot verify the math, the charge is functionally opaque — and opacity is where unjustified cost recovery can hide,” Aldan said.
Thursday’s board meeting also included agenda items on FAC reconciliation, the proposed CUC rate petition, net metering policy, government and CHCC receivables, the status of pending oversight bills and personnel matters.
