American Samoa's Senate has served notice to the territory's Power Authority of legal action if the authority does not reduce its electricity rates.
This follows the power authority's lack of a response to a Senate request last year to lower power rates by five cents per kilowatt hour.
The Senate found that for the last five years, ASPA was getting an average profit of 2.2-million US dollars and that a rebate should then be passed on to consumers.
It is asking that the residential rate be lowered by 9 cents per kilowatt hour and the industrial rate by 7 cents per hour.
Senate President Lolo Letalu Moliga says the business sector has been affected by the reduced purchasing power and some retailers have cited a 20-percent decrease in sales this year.
