I believe the biggest problem with the Guam Power Authority is the inconsistent feed. In Ipan, where we live, the power has been going on and off several times a week with no warning, it drops down or just goes out. After giving it some time, like many of us, I usually start my generator. Once started, I have to run the generator for at least an hour to charge the battery and also to avoid any further ups and downs from GPA. This, on top of GPA’s already exorbitant rates, is extremely costly but as a business owner, what else can I do?

Guam Power Authority employment has grown steadily over the years, even though GPA has farmed out the generation, line maintenance, Tanguisson power plant, and other functions to outside contractors. They still carry a huge payroll and tremendous over head.

Now with steady fuel increases and a past due accounts receivable of over $36,000,000 from its own mother, the Government of Guam, GPA is costing rate payers way too much. They threaten and pull the plug on businesses and residents constantly, yet from their own mother they can not collect. On the books the Guam Power Authority would be worthless… if the books were real.

Some may say the Guam Power Authority is doing a good job and that there are less power outages than before, but just wait until the political outages come into play. GPA is embedded with political stiffs pushing for their particular rooster to win. The Guam Power Authority is a pit of politics where there has always been a tremendous cash flow and lots of hiring money. I doubt the military, especially the families of the pending 8,000 new service people, will appreciate our political outages.

The Guam Power Authority is ripe for privatization right now. There will never be a better time. I clean around ten GPA power poles in Ipan all the time. I find loose cable, aluminum wires, ceramic insulators, long bolts, tools, and many other items left behind just laying on the roadside by line men. I have discovered many left over old wooden poles cut off and sprouting out of the ground. There are also plenty of deep holes along the road where power poles were removed and nothing done to repair the damage left behind.

Take a look and inspect the poles near you. Grounding is not done correctly, most of the hardware on the poles is disorganized, rusted, and falling apart. All over Guam, with the exception of lines maintained by the Navy, there are trees and brush growing around most poles, even up into the lines themselves. Lack of line maintenance can be a fire hazard and causes power fluctuation problems all over Guam. Yet neither GPA nor government officials seem to care. My power bill last year was approximately $1,800 a month, now it is $2,600 plus. I’m stuck with a ratchet demand meter that adjusts our rates to the next higher pay rate level every time we get busy and use more power. Once the meter has ratcheted us up to the next pay grid, we’re stuck paying the higher rate until GPA is able to reset the meter to our normal consumption rate. It is like my business is penalized by GPA every time we have the occasionally good business day and I am not alone in this situation.

After our last big typhoon I waited 53 days to have my power restored. Businesses will never be a priority, even though we feed the GovGuam animal that in turn bites our hand every time.

The street light problem has never been solved. I had two street lights that I was paying for taken out because so many others were getting them free for their back yard basketball courts. This is an injustice to businesses and consumers alike. Enough is enough. It is time to run GPA effectively and efficiently by privatizing it, so our Power Company pays gross receipts taxes & withholding taxes to the general fund.