by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM NewsMonday, May 12, 2008 Subscribe to Clynt's newsfeed
Guam got a little darker Monday evening, as the Consolidated Commission on Utilities and the Guam Power Authority are finally treating the island's public sector like every other ratepayer late on paying their power bill. GPA crews got an early start today disconnecting village streetlights, with communications director Art Perez, "This morning those line crews that were dedicated before for repairs are now disconnection crews. That's there whole task today disconnection of those lights, and we're not talking about disconnection to remove the power lines from them and clip them - we're actually dismantling the lights and removing them."Perez says they're taking down single poles with multiple streetlights. Crews are however leaving lights that illuminate safety areas such as bus stops blind curves or intersections. Perez says there are about 15,000 streetlights that cost $5.9 million annually, with funding for only 8,000 of them (about $3.2 million worth). This all stems back to streetlight arrearages that accumulated between 1997-2002, totaling $13.4 million.Despite numerous promissory notes and verbal promises from Governor Felix Camacho to pay with government obligation bond proceeds, GPA is still owed this money. The Government of Guam has been ordered to pay a portion of the arrearage - $7.9 million to be exact - by June 1or ratepayers will suffer an immediate 6% increase on their power bills. "The longer that this debt remains unresolved, more areas of the villages will be darkened," Perez noted.And with no concrete solution, bill passed or public law signed as of yet to address the streetlight debt, Guam will continue to plummet back to the dark ages.