The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation in the Northern Marianas expects to incur an operating loss totaling 8.9 million US dollars by the end of the fiscal year.
This is based on CUC records in the first five months of the year, or from October 2011 through February 2012.
For power alone, the CNMI utilities company projects the operating loss to reach 5.9 million dollars.
For water, it is expected to reach 1.8 million dollars and for wastewater, 1.2 million dollars.
Power has the largest shortfall, mainly due to maintenance costs and lower than anticipated kilowatt-hour sales.
The projected shortfall for water and wastewater, meantime, is due to increasing operating costs as a result of inflation and other factors beyond CUC's control.
