Aldan presses for full audit of CUC, questions arrears and 1% OPA fee

Rep. Vincent S. Aldan is urging regulators to reject any rate increase request from the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. until the utility undergoes a full audit, saying nearly $59 million in outstanding receivables raises serious questions about how the agency is being managed.

Appearing before the public comments section of the Commonwealth Public Utilities Commission last Feb. 13 at the Marianas Business Plaza, Aldan, chairman of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure in the Legislature, said he was not there “to try to bash anybody,” but “to try to point out facts.”

Citing Title 4 of the Commonwealth Code, Aldan read the governing standard aloud: “The executive director and board shall manage the corporation in a business-like manner so as to provide the most efficient delivery of its services at the most reasonable cost to customers.”

“That’s the law. It shall be managed in a business-like manner,” he said.

Aldan then detailed arrears he said were reflected in CUC’s latest report dated Nov. 23, 2025. According to the figures he cited, the central government owes CUC $36.4 million, while residential and commercial customers owe another $22.3 million, for a combined total of $58.8 million.

“Somebody please make me understand how is this being operated in a business-like manner when your projected budget is $105 million but yet you are owed $58 million,” Aldan said, referring to CUC’s reported $105 million operating budget for fiscal year 2025. “That’s half. Is it not?”

He said no private corporation would tolerate such arrears.

“I can guarantee you if this was an actual business … when that arrears that you are failing to collect has reached $2 million, somebody will lose their job,” he said.

Aldan focused much of his remarks on the proposed fuel adjustment charge reconciliation and the possibility of future rate adjustments.

“If any proposal … requests to increase rates for whatever reason, that it gets denied until such time that CUC gets completely 1000% audited on everything,” he said.

“The only way to find that out is to ensure that all your assets have to be audited so that you come up with a true price,” he added. “Without that audit, I’m sorry. I will keep going against you.”

Aldan also questioned references to past “over or under collection” of fuel costs.

“When I hear that word ‘over or under collection,’ it’s either you don’t know if you’ve over collected or under collected, but yet you want to increase the FAC,” he said.

Aldan further took issue with the 1% fee remitted to the Office of the Public Auditor, saying that based on CUC’s operating budget, the payment could amount to roughly $1 million annually.

“So if CUC is paying … what the hell is CUC being required to pay 1% to OPA?” he said. “And what does OPA do with that excess funds?”

He described the situation as “a hidden tax on CUC to the ratepayers,” adding, “Do I believe that the ratepayers should be handed a hidden tax and being used as a cash cow and a political dumping ground? No.”

Aldan said he is willing to work with the utility but only if it commits to transparency.

“Just be transparent, be honest, put up a dashboard, and show the people everything,” he said. “No more skeletons in the closet.”

In response, CPUC chair James Sirok said the commission has repeatedly asked OPA to conduct a full audit of CUC.

“We have done our due diligence by asking OPA under the statute to do a full audit on CUC, desk, financial, everything,” Sirok said, noting the request has been pending for nearly two years.

Referring to the commission’s enabling statute, Sirok emphasized that when CPUC makes such a request, OPA “shall” perform the audit.

“They don’t have an option. They don’t have discretion,” he said.

Sirok also agreed that the 1% charge remains embedded in current rates.

“It’s not fair for the ratepayers to be paying this 1% charge that’s bundled into the rates,” he said. “They’re paying for it. But nobody’s getting the service. So it’s a free ride for OPA.”

Earlier in the meeting, private citizen Del Benson questioned the long-term financial impact of large-scale solar investments, cautioning against locking into long-term contracts without clear cost projections.

“If you don’t have a projection of knowing, but we do know now what the cost of CUC run is now,” Benson said, calling such uncertainty “really dangerous.”

He also stressed that solar remains “a supplementary power source, and you still have to run the generators,” suggesting that projected fuel savings should be carefully scrutinized before commitments are made.

The commission took the comments under advisement as deliberations on CUC’s rate petition and related filings continue.