And nobody will ever have the balls to do what it take to fix the problem:
"The electricity sector is the main problem in the Dominican Republic." This was the opening sentence in the lead article in today's El Caribe newspaper, Wednesday, 7 August. Electricity is expensive and unreliable and this unleashes a series of additional costs that create inefficiency and harm competitiveness in the local markets, as well as limiting access to international markets. There is a triangle of difficulties that can be seen in the generation, distribution and management of electricity, all of which produce huge losses, through fraud and inefficiency. The result of all of this is that the oldest structural problem in the country costs the government US$1.5 billion a year in subsidies and payments to the sector.
The executive vice president of the Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) Ruben Jimenez Bichara has outlined a three-pronged effort to reduce the problems: modify the fuel matrix for generation, reduce losses (both through fraud and in transmission) and improve management efficiency. The fuel matrix, currently heavily based on petroleum products, is scheduled to shift to natural gas, coal and renewable energy sources. At present, nearly half of the installed generation capacity uses petroleum-based fuel, 20% uses natural gas, 13% comes from hydroelectric dams, 10% from coal and 3% from wind energy. Another major issue is the fact that 37% of the electricity "sold" is not paid for.
Jimenez Bichara announced that the government plans to add 1,700 to 2,000 kWh to the system, an investment of around US$5 billion from 2013-2016.