NewsWhore
08-30-2006, 02:50 PM
Businesswoman and lawyer Marisol Vicens has protested against a change in the rules that govern the status of non-regulated electricity consumers. According to the former president of the Association of Young Entrepreneurs, the Superintendent of Electricity is in breach of the General Law of Electricity by increasing the minimum consumption required for the non-regulated status from 0.2 megawatts to 1.2 megawatts. Vicens told reporters that "this disposition breaks the law, affects the entire system and does not generate the confidence that is needed, since it goes against the ability to compete." She cited Law 125-01, article 108, which states that as from 2005 a client only needs to consume 0.2 megawatts to classify as a non-regulated consumer. El Caribe tried to talk with Francisco Mendez, the superintendent, but he did not return their calls. Meanwhile, the industrialists' association (AIRD) will be meeting with representatives of hundreds of its members who are very large consumers of electricity, in order to establish their policy with regards to the new rule. According to Jose Luis Moreno San Juan, the director of the Energy Institute at the UASD, the crux of the matter resides in the inability of the generators and the distributors of electricity to provide transparent costs. That, plus the fact that the distributors do not want to lose their best paying customers who, under the provisions of the law would have access to low price fuels and incentives to provide their own electricity.
This violation of the Electricity Law is not new. Since the law's approval, the Superintendence of Electricity has consistently broken it with regards to provisions that would benefit paying consumers in the Dominican Republic versus the finances of the power companies. The problem nevertheless becomes crucial today, given the high cost of petrol. The consistent increases and high cost of electricity in the DR is obliging companies to take a less complacent attitude towards the violation of the law, given that their own survival is at stake as they struggle to bear the burden of the excessive power charges. In the DR, the pool of consumers who pay for the service regularly is burdened by the larger pool of those who do not.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
This violation of the Electricity Law is not new. Since the law's approval, the Superintendence of Electricity has consistently broken it with regards to provisions that would benefit paying consumers in the Dominican Republic versus the finances of the power companies. The problem nevertheless becomes crucial today, given the high cost of petrol. The consistent increases and high cost of electricity in the DR is obliging companies to take a less complacent attitude towards the violation of the law, given that their own survival is at stake as they struggle to bear the burden of the excessive power charges. In the DR, the pool of consumers who pay for the service regularly is burdened by the larger pool of those who do not.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)