SAIPAN — A day after Senate President Karl R. King-Nabors pressed CUC to separate confirmed facts from assumptions about restoring power to Tinian, the utility returned to the Tinian and Aguiguan legislative delegation on Thursday with firmer numbers but a blunter message: the recovery is being slowed less by what crews can do than by money the Commonwealth Utilities Corporation does not have.
CUC Chief Financial Officer Betty Terlaje told the delegation that a roughly $75 million advance reimbursement request to FEMA, covering projects the utility had submitted, was not approved. She said she had asked FEMA that morning to put the denial and its reasoning in writing. Terlaje said the central difference between the current recovery and the response to Typhoon Yutu in 2018 is funding, because the CNMI government was able to shoulder much of CUC’s contract and material costs up front then and cannot do so now.
“I’m not comfortable signing a contract” without certain funding, Terlaje said, describing a position in which each contract she executes forces a choice over which vendor to leave unpaid. She said CUC is pressing the House of Representatives to authorize a temporary loan or line of credit so the utility can fund restoration contracts, and that the sooner the financing is in place, the sooner materials can reach the islands.
The meeting, chaired by Sen. Jude U. Hofschneider, was a continuation of the delegation’s weekly session with CUC, which had recessed Wednesday after King-Nabors asked CUC Executive Director Kevin Watson to distinguish what he knew to be true from what he assumed about the timelines the utility had given the public.
On Thursday, CUC staff provided more detail. Of the transformers CUC has ordered, about 150 to 160 are on a first vessel scheduled to leave South Korea on June 8, with delivery expected seven to eight days later and the remainder following about two weeks after that. Jonathan Camacho, who oversees transmission and distribution for CUC, said Tinian’s distribution had energized much of San Jose village, with main lines powered up to the Maui well, and put the island’s restored load at roughly 920 to 940 kilowatts, about half of Tinian’s total demand. Camacho said 394 customers, or about 37 percent, had been reconnected across residential, commercial and government accounts, though CUC could not give a precise percentage until a first meter reading is completed.
Watson said Tinian could be restored within about two weeks but that the estimate depends on the availability of materials. The utility reported 111 downed wooden poles on Tinian, of which about 50 have been replaced to restore power to San Jose village and toward the Maui well. CUC said it maxed out concrete pole deliveries within the federal 90-day emergency period and ordered wooden poles to cover the shortfall, with about 300 concrete poles delivered to a port and awaiting the same June 8 vessel. The utility said it still needs about 36 transformers for Tinian and is short on conductor on both Tinian and Rota, and that it was awarding bids on materials Thursday after FEMA did not deliver conductor it had been expected to provide.
Some of the downed transformers on Tinian are an uncommon, oversized type, Watson said, and CUC is coordinating with Tinian Resident Director Evelyn Cabrera on whether to leave them in place as spares or replace them with equipment she more commonly uses.
Watson said short-term generation on Tinian is being handled by the Army’s 249th Engineer Battalion, operating three units under a 90-day emergency period, alongside a separate set of generators at a site referred to as IBB. He said the Army Corps of Engineers and FEMA are weighing longer-term generation alternatives, narrowed to about three options under review, one of which involves Aggreko and another involving FEMA units capable of about 3.6 megawatts. Any transition would carry a 75-25 federal-local cost share, Watson said, and CUC is negotiating closely because it does not want to be left with an arrangement it cannot afford.
Watson said a team of structural, mechanical and electrical engineers from the Army Corps and FEMA is assessing the storm-damaged Tinian power plant to determine whether the building and its engines can be repaired or must be replaced. He said the engineers apply a threshold under which repairs costing more than 50 percent of a unit’s replacement value weigh toward replacement, and that a determination is expected within about two weeks.
King-Nabors said the assessment’s outcome bears directly on a long-running effort to move critical Tinian power infrastructure underground as a hedge against future typhoons, and asked CUC to keep the delegation informed so it can coordinate with the Northern Marianas Housing Corporation on whether legislative funds can support the work. Hofschneider called it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for Tinian to counter its position in the typhoon belt and urged CUC to keep pursuing funding alternatives.
Sen. Francisco Q. Cruz pressed CUC on the conditions residents face while waiting, citing the cost and danger of running generators for weeks, and returned to a group of homes in the Carolinas Heights area that has struggled with water service for about 50 days. Watson said the homes receive water when the tank is full but at low pressure, and that CUC has requested an Army Corps generator for the booster station so the site can run continuously, with a pressure tank and backup motor ready to install once the generator arrives. He said CUC would review with its engineering group how to improve pressure for the affected homes.
Cruz and delegation members also pressed CUC to improve how it communicates with the public, saying residents repeatedly ask why one home has power while a neighbor does not. Terlaje said CUC issues notices, posts on social media, tags partner agencies and works through the Joint Information Center, and said the utility has arranged press briefings with the governor’s office on Tuesdays and Fridays in addition to its existing updates. She said about five or six crews are working through more than 1,000 pending work orders for a customer base of roughly 15,000, and asked for patience, saying no one is being skipped.
CUC said two additional bucket trucks and about six more linemen, including retired Guam Power Authority linemen, are expected to arrive on Tinian around June 7 or 8, joining crews from Tinian and Rota. The utility said its contractor crews, working under a contract with Polyphase, would shift to Saipan to continue work there once Tinian is substantially restored. Guam Power Authority crews assisting on Saipan are scheduled to remain through July 13, Watson said, with their possible extension and reassignment to be discussed when GPA representative John Benavente visits this weekend.
The delegation recessed the meeting, with Hofschneider saying it expects to meet with CUC again Wednesday at 10 a.m.
