The Guam Memorial Hospital owes about $1.16 million in unpaid power bills, according to Guam Power Authority General Manager John Benavente. 

He says the last payment was made back in May.

On Thursday, the GM told the Consolidated Commission on Utilities he’s working with hospital leadership on a plan to settle the debt.

“I wrote them a letter yesterday. They’re working on it, and they’re going to find a way to make sure we get paid on time. I don’t see them being an issue beyond (undecipherable). Otherwise, we will shut it down,” said Benavente. 

He added that GMH is one of just two government accounts that’s not current with GPA. 

The other is the office of civil defense, which owes just over $21,000.

“I don't necessarily blame the hospital. They’re either going to buy medicine or pay GPA. Without medicine, if you come into the hospital and you need it, you know, you have to have it,” added Benavente. 

He adds a payment plan could be ready as early as next week.

Meanwhile, GPA is still investigating the cause of Tuesday's electrical fire at the hospital, which GMH had blamed on a power fluctuation, a decades old electrical system and hvac failure. 

The GM says two transmission lines feeding the san vitores substation in Tumon experienced faults just after 12 p.m.

“We’re still trying to figure that out. Very unusual event. We've never seen this. Even Frank Santos this morning said we’ve never seen this happen,” added Benavente.

At the same time, GMH staff reported of a burning smell coming from a breaker, along with low voltage inside the facility. 

But Benavente says GPA Management was only notified nearly five hours later. 

“We did find it and we restored everything by 1:46pm, about an hour and a half later. We were not aware about the specific problems the hospital was having until my team got that news alert,” Benavente said. 

The hospital switched to generator power, but the GM says the backup system didn’t kick in automatically the way it should have.

“Whenever you have low voltage or single facing condition, your generators have an automatic transfer switch that monitors the condition. So when you see a low voltage, it’s supposed to transfer,” the GM said. 

He adds the electrical panel still "looks good," but the sub panels may have an issue.

Commissioners also raised concerns about whether GMH has kept up with preventative maintenance.

Meanwhile, senators are calling for a state of emergency for the ailing facility and the administration is calling for support for the construction of the new medical campus. 

This as the public hospital is faced with critical budget cuts, with less funding than last year.