Duenas new CCU secretary/treasurer
AFTER successfully selling $339.9 million in new revenue bonds to refinance its existing debt, the Guam Power Authority will be moving forward with a scheduled bond closing in Adelup today at around 10 a.m.
The refinancing lowered GPA’s interest rates on its older bonds from above 5.15 percent to 4.39 percent for this new financing. Interest rate savings are expected to benefit ratepayers through 2034 because the new financing lowers GPA’s debt service payments by $10.6 million per year for the next six years, exceeding the original target savings of $9 million annually.
Once the bond documents have been signed, GPA Communications Manager Art Perez said GPA will submit a petition to the Public Utilities Commission to neutralize the effect of the base rate increase that was recently implemented.
Duenas
The bond closing requires officials of the Consolidated Commission on Utilities to sign off on the required bond documents. But due to the recent passing of commissioner Gloria Nelson, the CCU had to appoint a new secretary of record.
GPA General Manager Joaquin Flores submitted a request last Tuesday to the commission to convene an emergency meeting for the appointment of a new secretary to execute the bond documents.
At the meeting held yesterday, CCU passed a resolution appointing commissioner Joseph T. Duenas as the new CCU secretary/treasurer.
The passing of the resolution, Duenas said, will empower him to sign off as the secretary of the CCU, which is necessary to formally close the revenue bonds.
