John I Borja

Pacific Daily News

The Consolidated Commission on Utilities met with the utility agencies Tuesday to hear updates and decide on a list of proposed resolutions.

On Guam Power Authority’s agenda, the CCU passed two notable resolutions: a fuel surcharge increase and permission to request land to build a new 180-megawatt power plant in Dededo.

Projected spikes in oil market price in the next several months are the driving factor behind the proposed increase, according to GPA. Under the resolution, GPA's residential customers will see a 6.4-percent increase — about $12.70 — on a 1,000 kilowatt-hour power bill, beginning Aug. 1 until the end of next January. The resolution will now head to the Public Utilities Commission for review.

The power agency also will look into about 40 acres of Dededo land near the Northern Wastewater Treatment Plant to construct a new power plant. GPA proposed purchasing land within Lot 10190-R1 — located north of the treatment plant — from the Guam Ancestral Lands Commission for the new power plant. GPA is planning to have the new asset online as early as 2021.

Water also

The CCU also passed the resolution on Guam Waterworks Authority's rate increase for fiscal 2018. GWA proposed a 4-percent increase in basic and non-lifeline water and wastewater rates for the next fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.

The increase is the last in GWA’s rate plan, which was implemented to help pay off bond money borrowed to improve the island’s water and wastewater systems.

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