NewsWhore
09-14-2006, 03:40 PM
The most important resolution to come from the recent meeting about the country's energy crisis was the discussion of a law that criminalizes the theft of electricity. At the Juan Dolio power workshop, President Leonel Fernandez announced that he would establish a new court to judge cases of electricity theft, and that the penalties for such a crime would be severe. But an article in Clave newspaper highlights the fact that this new law on the criminalization of theft is in fact ironic in the light of the authorities' own flagrant violation of the General Law of Electricity.
According to the Electricity Law, companies that use more than 0.2 megawatts are authorized to become non-regulated users and can disconnect from the power distribution billing system. Nonetheless, the Superintendence of Electricity has instead issued a resolution placing the limit at 1.4 MW, in violation of the law.
Another violation of the law by the authorities is the failure to comply with Article 93 of General Law of Electricity that states that the power distribution companies must compensate users with three hours of free power for every hour of blackout. The power companies have yet to compensate consumers for the first blackout hour.
The electric companies bill paying customers inflated prices, in order to compensate for those who do not pay for the service, in violation of article 110 of the general electrical laws.
Furthermore the sales of electricity by contracts cannot be more than 80% of the demand of the interconnected electrical system (SENI), which guarantees that the market spot buys 20% of the total. But in 2005 and between January and July of 2006 the reality was different. The sales of the market spot last year were 8.3%, and in the first seven months of this year they were 7.3%.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)
According to the Electricity Law, companies that use more than 0.2 megawatts are authorized to become non-regulated users and can disconnect from the power distribution billing system. Nonetheless, the Superintendence of Electricity has instead issued a resolution placing the limit at 1.4 MW, in violation of the law.
Another violation of the law by the authorities is the failure to comply with Article 93 of General Law of Electricity that states that the power distribution companies must compensate users with three hours of free power for every hour of blackout. The power companies have yet to compensate consumers for the first blackout hour.
The electric companies bill paying customers inflated prices, in order to compensate for those who do not pay for the service, in violation of article 110 of the general electrical laws.
Furthermore the sales of electricity by contracts cannot be more than 80% of the demand of the interconnected electrical system (SENI), which guarantees that the market spot buys 20% of the total. But in 2005 and between January and July of 2006 the reality was different. The sales of the market spot last year were 8.3%, and in the first seven months of this year they were 7.3%.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#8)