Author	: Bill Kochman
Publish	: Sep. 24, 2026
Update	: Sep. 24, 2026
Parts	: 04

Synopsis:



Continuing our discussion from part two, and my description of the current economic situation which exists here on Guam, if you view the previous power bill list as being outrageous, consider the fact that as I recently told one of my friends, a number of months ago, my power bill was actually hitting as much as $425 per month when I was using two air cons to keep my small apartment cool. However, eventually, I was no longer able to afford keeping two air cons running. So, not only did I stop using the portable unit, but I sold it about a month ago.

Sadly, we regular folks are never able to win in a financial sense here on Guam. As I briefly mentioned to you at the end of part two, because we are an island that is located out in the middle of the Western Pacific Ocean, we really depend on imports for everything. To make matters worse, we don't have any kind of local industries other than tourism, and as I've mentioned before, even that has been on a serious decline for over five years now with no clear signs of any recovery in sight. In truth, at this current time, it is primarily the presence of the U.S. military here, as well as handouts from the U.S. federal government which really sustain our economy.

As I have already explained to you, our power bills are based in large part on the price of oil. In Guam's case, about 37% of refined petroleum and fuel products come through Singapore, with the remainder coming from other Asia-linked supply chains including Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong and Malaysia. However, much of the underlying crude oil which feeds these Asian hubs ultimately traces back to the Middle East, and passes through checkpoints such as the Strait of Hormuz. Behold the problem!

The bottom line is that Guam is at the mercy of these various suppliers. Our local companies and government agencies either accept what the suppliers offer us at the price they offer us, or else we just don't get their products. In the case of the Guam Power Authority, this past April, one barrel of oil cost $98.00. In a news article posted a few days ago in our local newspaper, the Pacific Daily News, GPA stated that it expects to pay about $201.69 per barrel for the September shipment of fuel oil for its power generators. The October shipment may be even higher than that, depending on what happens in the Middle East.

Are you starting to see the problem? The Guam Power Authority is already many millions of dollars in debt. The only way that it can relieve some of that debt -- and yet still not be able to fully repay its debts to its suppliers -- is by raising the price of electricity to its customers. Here on Guam, the Public Utilities Commission is our rate-setting authority. Guam Power Authority can make petitions, requests or recommendations, but it is only the PUC which makes the final determination, based on the current price of imported oil and other factors.

Every month on our power bill, there is a line for the LEAC. This stands for "Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause", which is basically a fuel recovery surcharge which GPA charges all of its customers in order to help cover the cost of fuel that is used to generate electricity. By law, GPA is not supposed to earn a profit from the LEAC. The sole purpose of the fuel recovery surcharge is strictly to cover the fluctuating costs of importing oil to run the island's generators. Whether or not this is what really happens, I cannot say. But what I can tell you is the following. On every single power bill I have ever received, the LEAC has always been substantially higher than the actual amount of power that I'm using. In short, the LEAC forms the bulk of our power bill, and we're charged more for GPA's oil expenses, than we are for the actual amount of electricity that we use each month!

But here is where the real financial crunch comes. Every few months, the Public Utilities Commissions conducts a review in order to determine whether or not the LEAC requires any kind of adjustment. Well, a few days ago, the PUC conducted their latest review. We on Guam pretty much already knew what the results of that PUC meeting would probably be, because the Pacific Daily News had published a number of articles over a period of several days which offered us some rather strong hints. So, following is a PDN article from September 20, 2026 which confirms what we already expected. Our average monthly power bill will be going up another $88 per month, despite the fact that it was raised $58 per month only three months ago:

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Average Power Bill Rising $88 Soon, 3 Months After $58 Jump

Pacific Daily News

September 20, 2026

An average residential power bill will go up by about $88 after Oct. 1, just three months after a rate hike that bumped the average bill up by about $58.

This latest hike will send the average household power bill to over $400 per month. That means the average residential ratepayer, who uses 1,000 kilowatt-hours of energy per month, will soon pay about 56% more for power than they did at the start of 2026.

The Public Utilities Commission on Thursday night voted to increase to the Guam Power Authority's fuel surcharge, called the Levelized Energy Adjustment Clause, LEAC.

GPA earlier this week requested to hold off on any rate hike, even as soaring fuel costs driven by the Iran have pushed fuel expenses beyond revenues from power customers.

But the dramatic cost increase pushed utilities commissioners to address the rate on their own, with no rate increase request from the power authority.

Starting Oct. 1, the LEAC charge will go from about 19.4 cents per kWh of energy to 28.4 cents.

That means an $88.56 average residential ratepayer's bill, resulting in their bill going from $318.67 to $407.23.

Prior to July, that same average customer paid just $260.37 per month.

The higher rate starts Oct. 1 and will stay in place through Jan. 31, 2027.

Even with the rate hike, GPA will still be around $18 million short for its October fuel shipment payment, according to power authority Chief Financial Officer John Kim.

Fuel Costs Rising

If GPA makes no change to rates, the authority will be in the hole, or under-recovered, on fuel costs by $88 million come by Jan. 31, according to Chief Administrative Law Judge Fred Horecky.

A barrel of fuel oil needed to run GPA's generators is far more costly than it was before the Iran war choked global oil supplies.

GPA in January was projecting a barrel of fuel oil to cost about $94 through the middle of the year, PUC records show.

Horecky shared Thursday that the average price of a barrel of fuel oil was over $200 per barrel.

"It's far worse than we would have ever anticipated," Horecky said.

Leaving power rates as they are and allowing GPA to get $88 million in the hole on fuel costs by next January, would be "unacceptable," Horecky reported.

GPA would be further in the hole on fuel costs than it ever has been and would take years to recover from, according to Horecky.

The power authority's under-recovery is already at a record high, $48 million in the hole as of the close of August, according to GPA CFO Kim. The past record was $47 million, when GPA held off rate hikes during the COVID-19 pandemic.

It could put GPA and ratepayers in dangerous situation, leaving the authority unable to pay for fuel and requiring load shedding. It could also threaten an even bigger rate hike becoming necessary next year.

"If the conflict with Iran expands or worsens in the upcoming months, there could be further increases in fuel prices which might spiral the under-recovery balance out of control," Horecky reported.

Besides the fuel cost, an issue at the Ukudu power plant that left the plant's steam turbine offline for about two months cost GPA $28 million on fuel.

Credit Line

While GPA is going after a $70 million line of credit to help offset fuel costs, there is no guarantee when that credit line will become available, if at all, and how much credit GPA can secure, according to Horecky.

In the meantime, GPA has no available funding to help cover fuel costs, if rates don't go up.

Power authority General Manager John Benavente earlier this week stated that GPA will know by Friday whether it can secure that line of credit.

The Consolidated Commission on Utilities, GPA's management board, was set to meet at 5:30 p.m. Friday to discuss the matter and the fuel surcharge.

Could Be Worse

The new 28.4-cent per kWh fuel surcharge rate that takes effect Oct. 1 won't fully recover all of GPA's fuel expenses.

It will still leave GPA in the hole on fuel costs by an estimated $50 million, come Jan. 31, Horecky reported to the PUC.

Recovering all of GPA's fuel expenses would require the fuel surcharge to more than double, going from the current 19.4 cents to 40.4 cents per kilowatt hour.

That would result in the average customer's power bill rising by over $209, sending it to $528.13 per month.

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As I mentioned to Google's Gemini chatbot earlier today, what we actually see happening here is the typical Guamanian "pass the buck" blame game. As all longtime residents here already know, GovGuam and GovGuam agency leaders never like to take responsibility for anything. Their failures are always due to someone else. As you can imagine, people on Guam are already very dissatisfied with the economic situation. We plainly see the government corruption and nepotism. We obviously all feel the financial pain. Thus, while GPA knows that they really do need the extra money, they do not want to appear as the bad guy. Thus, they use the PUC -- Public Utilities Commission -- as their scapegoat. "It is THEIR idea! It is NOT our fault!". The truth of the matter is that they are probably in cahoots with each other, and they continually play a back and forth psychological game of manipulation with the people of Guam.

At any rate, just as I do on the social networks, occasionally I will add my personal comments to articles which appear in the Pacific Daily News. This is precisely what I did recently. In fact, I even composed a new poem to fit the occasion. How nice of me! Please excuse my sarcasm. Here is precisely what I wrote in our local newspaper's comments section:

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"Why do you continuously play this psychological back and forth game with us? Between your recent email newsletters, and now a news article in the PDN, anyone who is a longtime resident of Guam understands exactly what this all means.

It is Guam's favorite pastime, and the typical "pass the buck" game, which we have all seen so many times before. We know it, and they know it.

It is evident to me that all they are trying to do is soften us up and psychologically prepare us for yet another GPA rate hike in the near future, and then they will each point the finger and say "It's not my fault!".

They tell us to conserve, conserve, conserve, which many of us strive to do. Personally, I now only use one air con in my home, whereas I used to rely on two units to cool down my home. My water heater is also usually turned off, and my lights are always off as well, unless I am in a room. Even then, I still keep the light off if possible. So I do my part to conserve.

However, what is the point if they are still going to jack up my power bill anyway? I strive to live frugally so that I can save a little money in the bank. But then sure enough, GPA comes along and sucks up my savings anyway.

Face it. We Guamanians just can't win, because the cards are always stacked against us. For many months we were told that the new Ukudu power plant would mitigate our financial pain by lowering our power bills. That was obviously just another empty promise.

POWER BILL BLUES

by Bill Kochman

09-16-2026

I tried so hard to get ahead,
Put some money in the bank,
Then my power bill arrived,
And man, it just really stank!

Turn off your water heater,
Sparingly use your lights,
Reduce your air con usage,
And yet that bill still bites.

Seems no matter what I do,
And tho I conserve everyday,
Regardless, sooner or later,
A higher bill I've got to pay.

So many empty promises,
We've heard them all before,
While they get a pay raise,
We all simply end up poor.

It's just one endless circle,
Of frustration and despair,
One really has to wonder,
Do they even really care?

They say they're in the red,
I don't doubt that they are,
But also try to remember,
Our money only goes so far.

Solar, wind & ocean thermal,
Need to pick up the slack,
Because the high oil prices,
Are gonna break our back.

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Ironically, I tried to send the very same message to the email address that was included in the GPA email newsletter. To my surprise, I was sent back the following error message by the mail server. Maybe it was just a temporary glitch. Who knows, but I didn't try to send my email message again:

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"Your message wasn't delivered to newsletter@gpagwa.info because the domain gpagwa.info couldn't be found. Check for typos or unnecessary spaces and try again."

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While the previous paragraphs may be of little interest to my readers who live outside of Guam, at the very least, I hope that what I have shared here will serve as a microcosm of what is currently happening all around the world due to the current war in the Middle East. It affects many of us, some more than others.

Returning to President Trump and his public deceptions, for example, this past March 2026, following an Iranian missile attack, the President falsely stated that the United States is "totally independent of the Middle East." Furthermore, he also asserted that "we don't need their oil. We don't need anything they have". Then, the very next month -- April 2026 -- during a national address regarding the Iran War, Trump again falsely declared that the United States imports almost no oil through the Strait of Hormuz, and that the nation no longer relies upon oil that is being transported through the strait. Building one lie upon another, Donald Trump argued that American oil and gas production surpasses even that of Saudi Arabia and Russia, thus supposedly making the United States immune to any kind of domestic energy shocks.

More recently, earlier this same month -- September 2026 -- President Trump likewise argued that the American military presence in the Strait of Hormuz was "doing it much more for others than for itself." Donald Trump again reiterated the point that America's domestic stability translates into the fact that the United States does not depend on oil passing through the Strait of Hormuz in order to sustain its basic survival.

However, my friends, what is the real truth of this matter? Should we simply blindly accept the President's claims? In my view, at the very least, President Trump is speaking only half-truths. He is only telling half of the story in order to purposely manipulate the American public's worldview. He is in fact gaslighting the American public, and creating a false narrative, as all politicians tend to do. After all, any trip to the gas station should easily convince you that we should most certainly not take the President's word for it. The simple facts of the matter are the following:

First of all, as I mentioned to you earlier, there is the issue of global market pricing. In other words, even if the United States drills enough oil domestically, the fact still remains that oil prices are set globally. As a result, an oil shortage in the Middle East actually raises oil and gasoline prices everywhere, including in the United States. There is simply no way around this fact. The second point we need to consider is the fact that much of the crude oil that's found and extracted within the United States cannot be easily, or cheaply, refined into domestic gasoline. It in fact requires specific foreign blends, or else technical adjustments. So again, no matter how you look at it, the United States still remains dependent on foreign oil, despite what the President claims. If such were truly not the case, U.S. gasoline prices would not be continuously fluctuating up and down like some jackrabbit.

On a final note regarding this particular issue, let me also mention that true economic independence involves more than just crude oil. In other words, disruptions in Middle Eastern shipping lanes -- such as in the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea -- also impact global costs for such items as fertilizer, food, and helium. My friends, think about it. Without enough fertilizer, a country simply cannot produce enough food to feed its own people. Sadly, this truth has already begun to seriously affect many areas of the world, because the global fertilizer market is indeed being impacted. Furthermore, at this current time as we approach the end of September 2026, at a minimum, the following regions and countries are being negatively affected by the strain on the global fertilizer markets:

1. South Asia: India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

2. Latin America: Brazil.

3. East and Southeast Asia: South Korea and Thailand.

4. Sub-Saharan Africa.

5. The United States: Please note that while the USA is a major producer of urea -- a synthetic, high-concentration nitrogen fertilizer -- nevertheless, it still partly relies on urea imports which transit the Strait of Hormuz, leaving domestic agriculture exposed to high prices for fertilizer.

Returning to our discussion concerning the Houthis in Yemen, I suspect that they are probably of the same mindset as the Iranians. In other words, they too will probably just hunker down and simply wait until the American military runs so low on munitions that it will no longer be able to sustain the current barrage of missiles and rockets against the Houthis. Furthermore, if you have been paying close attention to the news, then you will probably already know that the Houthis have become even bolder, and have now even begun to attack Saudi Arabia. So, the situation in the Middle East is NOT looking too good, and unless the United States and the state of Israel decide to do something really extreme -- possibly a nuclear attack against Iran? -- the USA-Israel-Iran War may continue for quite some time to come. Let's all hope to God that it does not come to that.

By the way, for those of my readers who may not be aware of it, while we may often use the words "missile" and "rocket" interchangeably in our daily discussions, there is in fact a technical difference between the two.

The primary difference is that a missile, such as an ICBM -- or Intercontinental Ballistic Missile -- has an onboard guidance system to steer and adjust its path mid-flight. In other words, a missile relies on sensors, external fins, or an internal computer to track and home in on a moving or a stationary target. In contrast, a traditional rocket works very differently. It's unguided, and it must follow a fixed trajectory which is determined at launch time.

On a related note, if you have been paying attention to the American news media, including to some of the military news outlets -- I receive some military newsletters via email -- then you will probably know that depending on what kind of offensive or defensive weapon it is, it does NOT take merely hours, days or even weeks to build certain types of military hardware. While a faster replacement cycle does occur with "cheaper" hardware such as drones, for example, that is NOT the case with much more complex hardware such as aircraft carriers, submarines, fighter jets, etc. It really requires literally months or even several years to bring production to completion for just a single unit. This important fact has been clearly stated in the mainstream media by different people who understand such matters.

So as I first mentioned to you in part one of this series, this is precisely why there is currently a lot of concern amongst America's political and military leadership. They all realize that they can't possibly simultaneously maintain or sustain multiple theaters of war around the world. They cannot adequately support Ukraine in its war against Russia, while engaging in a prolonged war against Iran and all of its Middle Eastern allies -- such as the Houthis, Hezbollah, Hamas, radical factions in Iraq and Syria -- while trying to hold back Chinese expansionism in the Indo-Pacific region, particularly when it is a clear, established fact that China already has a larger and more powerful navy than the United States. It is simply impossible. Something has to give, and there is always a weak link somewhere. The American military needs to rob Peter in order to pay Paul. Now do you actually understand?

Ironically, despite all of these dire warnings regarding U.S. munitions shortages which we have heard and read in recent months, nevertheless, the United States is still willing and able to provide its good old "pal" and supposed "ally" Israel with piles of bombs so that it can continue to obliterate the Hamas rebels in Gaza, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the anti-Israel factions in Syria, and of course, the Iranians. Consider the following news excerpt which likewise recently appeared in an edition of the New York Times:

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"Trump Approves $2.8 Billion Arms Sale to Israel, Including 40,000 One-Ton Bombs

The package would be among the largest deliveries of U.S. munitions to Israel."

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As you may know, this has become a very big and controversial issue with many American citizens. Not only has a new wave of anti-Semitism swept across the nation in recent years, but a lot of people have begun to form the opinion that Uncle Sam cares more about the fate of the Israelis, than it does about the actual well-being of its own citizens. There always seems to be money for the Israelis, while Americans at home suffer financially, and in other ways. This is obviously not right, and it certainly is not putting America first! Personally, as I have stated before, I will say again. In my opinion, the Israelis -- beginning with despicable Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu -- have the American government by its throat. Through AIPAC -- American Israel Public Affairs Committee -- and other powerful lobby groups, the Israelis dictate in large part what happens in American politics. Of course, that includes military decisions as well.

This very same Israel-first mentality reflects back on Guam as well. In other words, while we Guamanians -- who are all American citizens -- are targeted by both Chinese and North Korean missiles, and while we even go without bomb shelters -- please refer to my BBB article "World at War: What About Guam?" at the end of this same series -- somehow, the U.S. government still manages to supply its allies -- beginning with the state of Israel -- with plenty of weapons. Uncle Sam cannot even adequately protect its own citizens on Guam or in the American homeland, and yet it has enough for its foreign friends. Go figure. I will be discussing the Golden Dome missile defense shield in the final part of this series.

Please go to part four for the conclusion of this series.

⇒ Go To The Next Part . . .

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Please avail yourself of other areas of the Bill's Bible Basics website. There are many treasures for you to discover.