CUC may still cut power despite pandemic

| 18/03/2020 | 16 Comments
Cayman News Service

(CNS): Government has claimed to have secured commitments from utility providers in Cayman not to deprive people of these essential service as the country faces the COVID-19 pandemic. But CUC has only made a very limited to commitment to keeping people’s power on. In a statement Wednesday it said that it would not cut electricity supply to anyone for the rest of March, but after that it appears there are no guarantees.

In the statement CUC officials said customers may experience financial hardships over the next few months and in anticipation of payment difficulties it had developed a plan to minimise the impact. The company said it would be “immediately discontinuing disconnections for the remainder of March” and offer payment plans to customers on a case-by-case basis.

The monopoly power provider said it was offering a three-month plan for extenuating circumstances, especially for employees of industries whose operations have essentially halted. These customers must prove their earnings have been cut as a result of measures taken by government to address the coronavirus.

“We are asking customers to assist by managing their consumption,” the utility company stated. “We understand this may be challenging with everyone at home. We therefore encourage customers to utilize our monitoring tools available via our website at www.cuc-cayman.com.”

CNS understands that people who were already cut off for non-payment before the government had spoken to CUC about temporarily ceasing disconnections have no way of being reconnected unless they pay their bills in full. Others who fail to pay after the 31 March cut-off may also be disconnected.

CNS submitted questions to CUC about those who are already cut off or who could be cut off in April because they don’t meet the criteria for a credit facility, and officials said that all customers struggling with their bills should contact customer service.

The premier stated at Wednesday’s coronavirus press briefing that bills will still need to be paid in the end regardless, and those who are without power now and who are cut off because they don’t meet the CUC criteria will be among those that government expects will be turning to the Needs Assessment Unit.


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Category: Business, utilities

Comments (16)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    They can hardly keep up with a normal supply level without blackouts – how on Earth do they think they can cope with extra demand due to everyone being at home watching TV in the A/C all day?

    • Anonymous says:

      They can keep up because as of Sunday all the big hotels are empty. They suddenly have surplus power.

  2. Anonymous says:

    everybody looking for freebies….don’t you understand someone has has to pay eventually???

  3. Soldier Crab says:

    This is what happes when you sell your birthright. There urgently need to be a law prohibiting the sale of shares in any public utility to persons or companies not resident in the Islands.

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  4. Gullable.....NOT says:

    Listen.
    When you have a Monopoly like CUC has. And when you control the Gov’t like CUC does. And when you CONTROL the supposedly ELECTED officials like CUC does. What do you think is going to happen. Runaway money making, like CUC does.

    The Elected MLA’s claim they sat with Gov’t and CUC and were told that CUC would not disconnect anyone for the month of MARCH (Only).

    The Elected MLA’s and Gov’t hold press conference where they make everyone believe that CUC cares and the, the MLA’s got a reprieve for the population. Big pats on each others backs, drinks all around the table…..

    Only one small issue. CUC can say they wont disconnect anyone for the month of MARCH (hell i would’ve said that too). They sent out disconnection notices two weeks ago and if you did not pay you got disconnected last week…..

    Talk about pulling the wool over peoples eyes…….gezzzzz. How gulable are we…. I mean really……..

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  5. Anonymous says:

    We may have to elect an emergency government….RB…GM..WP…MA…etc..etc..the current government is unaware of what they are doing.

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  6. Slacker says:

    Nothing to worry about, OfReg is on the case….

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  7. BeaumontZodecloun says:

    Is CUC in significantly worse financial shape than we’ve been led to believe? If not, it is unconscionable that they would shut anyone off during this trying time.

    Perhaps CUC is vying for a government subsidy? I wonder also how the Sister Islands’ CBP&L is handling this.

    What next? Insurance companies pleading poverty? 🙁

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  8. Anonymous says:

    Congrats CUC, another strike for inhumanity!

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  9. Anonymous says:

    There is no limit to CUC’s greed. Period.

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    • Anonymous says:

      They usually have that summer increase ready so if they give a break for one month, we know that summer rate will be even higher AND they’ll probably want increase in subsidy increase.

      If there are ANY politicians without shares in CUC, now is the time to start working on a plan to curtail the usual demands from CUC especially during summer, aka also hurricane season starting in a few months, PLUS we still don’t know impact of this virus yet.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Follow the money. Fools cannot remain blind any longer.
    Lodge in control……or so they think.
    Press supporting them. Truth will soon come out.
    The clear day is dawning. Praise Jesus!

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  11. Anonymous says:

    In the UK the power companies are assessing their ability to respond to outages or storm damage in the event of 80% of their staff being out of action either because they’re in isolation or sick with COVID-19. Are CUC making any similar preparations?

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  12. Expect nothing from CUC says:

    Do we expect anything else from CUC, don’t forget after Ivan all our bills went up to cover the cost of their infrastructure.

    It’s time the CI government steps in! I don’t know the monthly cost to run their business but let’s say its 10 million, well government has a slush fund of over 160+ million, why not just say, no profit by the government will pay this bill for everyone for the next month or two.

    Don’t forget these funds are ours NOT Aldens and his cronies! It’s time for the MLAs to stand up.

    I would also like to know why we is Mac out on the streets, I thought he was in rehab and taken a leave of his duties. Wait an minute why haven’t we heard anything about the assault case? Silly me, I know Alden pulled the trigger early so we would be distracted from the dump, port and of course Mac.

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