NewsWhore
09-10-2008, 05:20 PM
The Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic proposes that the government make major changes in its focus on the electricity sector. The AIRD says that government intervention in the sector has failed. AIRD indicates that the electricity market now is a major source of losses for the state, has contributed to an increase in political patronage and there has been a worsening of the electricity deficit. In a written statement, Manuel Diez Cabral, president of the AIRD, recommends the government limit itself to its regulatory role through the Superintendence of Electricity. He also points out that the Corporation of State Electrical Companies (CDEEE) should no longer be a part of the market, nor take on a quasi-monopoly role. He recommends that the power distributors (EdeNorte and EdeSur) return to private hands, arguing that being 100% government-owned opens them to patronage, and stimulates inefficiency and an increase in costs.
"The authorities have insisted on state intervention but this not only mortgages the viability of the electricity sector, but also employs enormous funds that are poured into non-lasting solutions, such as the growing electricity subsidy and the signing of new agreements with some generators under conditions that are not favorable to consumers," said Diez Cabral.
He urges a return to the integral solution of the sector and reforms that were begun nine years ago, but abandoned because of the politicization of the sector.
"We aspire that once and for all the technical electricity tariffs as ordered in the General Electricity Law be implemented, so that this can make transparent the real costs of the system and we can arrive at a rate that we consumers can understand better," said Diez Cabral.
"Distributors need to be obliged to become efficient in a reasonable term, with goals for the gradual dismounting of the subsidy that they receive," he pointed out. He said that it has been easier for the distributors to just await the bulk sums furnished by the government in the form of the subsidy than to fulfill their responsibility to collect from the clients.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)
"The authorities have insisted on state intervention but this not only mortgages the viability of the electricity sector, but also employs enormous funds that are poured into non-lasting solutions, such as the growing electricity subsidy and the signing of new agreements with some generators under conditions that are not favorable to consumers," said Diez Cabral.
He urges a return to the integral solution of the sector and reforms that were begun nine years ago, but abandoned because of the politicization of the sector.
"We aspire that once and for all the technical electricity tariffs as ordered in the General Electricity Law be implemented, so that this can make transparent the real costs of the system and we can arrive at a rate that we consumers can understand better," said Diez Cabral.
"Distributors need to be obliged to become efficient in a reasonable term, with goals for the gradual dismounting of the subsidy that they receive," he pointed out. He said that it has been easier for the distributors to just await the bulk sums furnished by the government in the form of the subsidy than to fulfill their responsibility to collect from the clients.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#3)