FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (November 10, 2022 – Hagåtña, Guam)  

Speaker Therese Terlaje introduced Bill No. 357-36 (COR) which extends the Prugraman Ayuda Para I Taotao-ta Energy Credit Program and provides GPA customers with a $500 credit toward their account over the next five months. If passed, GPA customers will receive a $100 credit every month from December through April 2023.

The current Prugraman Ayuda Para I Taotao-ta Energy Credit Program is set to end in November, however ratepayers continue to suffer from increased power rates from the Guam Power Authority.  In October, the Public Utilities Commission decided to increase the Guam Power Authority fuel surcharge to nearly 32 cents per kilowatt-hour which would amount on average to a $22 increase in the total average monthly bill for residents using 1,000 kWh. The new rate will apply beginning in November and will last through January 2023, when the PUC will consider the surcharge again.

Bill No. 357-36 proposes to use unappropriated general fund revenues collected in excess of the adopted revenues levels of the FY 2022 Budget Act.  The government collected $103.5 M more in general funds than what was adopted in the FY 2022 Budget Act, according to the September 2022 Consolidated Revenue and Expenditure Report (CRER).  The CRER also subtracts all other FY 2022 and FY 2023 general fund appropriations from the $103.5 M excess revenues, still leaving an unobligated general fund revenue amount of $47.5 M for FY 2022. The appropriation in Bill No. 357-36 is for $26.3 M to the Guam Power Authority for the energy credit program.

“Many in our community are still feeling the economic impacts of inflation and the global pandemic and are in need of assistance, especially for basic monthly expenses like energy and gas prices. The government currently has excess revenues and must act now to provide this relief. It is my hope that the Legislature can act swiftly on this measure before the term ends,” stated Speaker Terlaje.

Bill No. 357-36 can be found here.