The Commonwealth Utilities Corporation is now salvaging storm‑damaged electrical equipment to stretch dwindling supplies as Saipan’s power restoration effort passes the halfway mark but begins to slow under mounting material shortages and widespread copper theft.CUC crews are recovering conductor, transformers and other transmission and distribution components from storm‑damaged areas and testing them with Guam Power Authority technicians to determine whether they can be safely reused. Officials say the effort is critical as the utility waits for additional poles, wire and hardware to arrive in the coming days.
“We are a little bit above 50% energized for all primary and lateral lines,” CUC power division electrical engineer Jonathan Camacho said at a Friday briefing. “But we are now unfortunately hitting our plateau because of stolen conductors. We just ran out of materials.”
Camacho said crews have discovered missing spans of triplex service drops and number‑four solid copper across the island. “There are multiple areas on Saipan where our triplex lines are stolen or missing,” he said. “We’re probably exceeding tens of thousands of feet of number‑four solid copper missing.”
Despite the setbacks, Camacho said the biggest breakthrough this week is in Kagman, where progress had stalled for weeks due to a lack of poles. “We finally have power poles that came in — 40 pieces of 45‑foot concrete poles,” he said. “That was all assigned to the Kagman area.”
GPA has redirected all its bucket trucks and crews to Kagman to accelerate work. “GPA retracted all of their teams, their bucket trucks, just to go there so they can complete as much as they can,” Camacho said. “Within the next day or two, if they’re able to energize that line, we can see the first customers coming up in Kagman.”
He said the shift is meant to reassure residents who feared the area had been deprioritized.
CUC is coordinating with FEMA to expedite shipments of poles and conductors to prevent further delays. “They’re adamant about expediting a lot of our needs so we can continue restoration,” Camacho said.
Saipan’s power plants remain stable, with peak load at 18.5 megawatts — roughly half of the island’s pre‑storm consumption of 33 to 38 megawatts, he added.
