Ads by Google Ads by Google

Community News Briefs

compiled by Samoa News staff

BILLING CHANGES IN EFFECT FOR ASPA CUSTOMERS

Last week, the American Samoa Power Authority (ASPA) announced changes in billing cycles and billing days, which go into effect this month.

Instead of customers receiving bills in the mail after the 21st of each month, the semiautonomous agency will now be sending bills out a couple of days after the meter readings are completed.

This means there will be three billing cycles, instead of one, for all residential and commercial customers who are on post billed water and electric meters.

"The due dates for each account will be 10 business days after the bill is printed, and the late fee penalty will be assessed by the due date," which will be listed on the bill. 

Customers are reminded that service disconnections are ongoing daily and accounts must be kept current to avoid service interruption. 

According to ASPA customer service manager Ryan Tuato'o, ASPA starts reading post billed electric and water meters on the first of the month, beginning from the far east end of the island, all the way to the west end.

"The process of reading meters takes 10 business days and then we bill by the 21st of the month," he explained. "We are testing our three-cycle billing to allow customers whose meters were read at the beginning of the month to be billed sooner and not have to wait until the 21st of the month to be billed," he continued.

Essentially, this means the billing days — generally, on average around 30 days — remains the same. 

More information can be obtained by calling the ASPA billing office at 699-1234.

ASDOE BUS DRIVERS UNDERGO CPR TRAINING

Twenty-five bus drivers for the Department of Education went through a four-hour CPR training this past Monday.

The training aims to provide bus drivers, especially those who transport children with special needs under the Special Education Program (SPED), to be able to offer critical medical assistance if, and when, an emergency occurs on the road.

A similar CPR training was held at the LBJ Medical Center.

In addition to CPR training, the bus drivers also participated in a computer course offered by the Dept. of Youth and Women's Affairs (DYWA) at the Pago Pago Community Youth Center.

The goal is to get the bus drivers to learn computer basics so required reports no longer have to be written but instead, can be typed out and submitted via the internet.