Iregularidad in electricty?

djuno718

New member
Dec 1, 2007
163
2
0
ok guys listen to this: My electric bill in my home has been steady about Rd$950 to about $1,200 a month, i have never missed a payment and my bills have been steady around that amount for years. Friday i noticed that my fridge hadnt been on all day and that we had been running off of the inverter all day, but yet there was electricty in the street. so i called Edenorte and spoke to a rep. and they state that my electricity had been cut due to non payment in the amount of RD $4,599 due to a Multa de irregularidad on the account. so i said WTF does that mean? i pay my bills monthly ive never missed a payment, and last month i payed my bill on time! the person stated that the multa was due to Tampering of the electrical meter. So i said What? how is that possible? i pay my bills my bill has always been steady. she said the the meter had signs of tampering on it like if it was being clocked to bill lower. i said oh really? and who was it that noticed? one of your techs? cause i havent even seen your workers around here? so after back and forth they told me to head to the Main office tommarrow to sort it out and pay the fine! if i have always payed my bill and i havent tampered with the damn thing then why should i have to pay a fine? im sorry but theyre christmas bonuses are not coming out of my pocket! on top of that i had to spend the weekend(christmas) at familys house cause my house is in the dark! What can i do about this? They have to show me how that meter was tampered with! im not paying a fine when i didnt do anything wrong!
 

Reuhaa

New member
Jan 15, 2008
9
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0
might not have been you tampering with the meter,someone else trying to connect to your power,they do that here
 

puryear270

Bronze
Aug 26, 2009
935
82
0
ok guys listen to this: ... on top of that i had to spend the weekend(christmas) at familys house cause my house is in the dark! What can i do about this? They have to show me how that meter was tampered with! im not paying a fine when i didnt do anything wrong!

Please, PLEASE, listen to me and learn from my mistake:

DO NOT go into the office with a belligerant attitude and tell them you will not be paying the fine. You will end up very frustrated, living in a house with no electricity.

Instead, in your most polite voice ever with a huge smile, using lots of endearing words like (if female) "mi reina", "mi vida", "mi corazon", (if male), "hombre", "mi jefe", etc. Explain as if you are very confused foreigner who doesn't understand the bill, and you would never tamper with a meter, but it might have been someone trying to get illegal electricity, and is there something that can be done about this. Be very, very, very, very patient, and remember that the person with whom you are speaking will only assist you if he/she thinks they are doing you a favor and only this one time. If they refuse, then ask if they could do you the favor of getting the electricity reconnected while the situation is investigated.

The other option is to get Dominican friend to go with you and speak for you at the Edenorte office.
 

djuno718

New member
Dec 1, 2007
163
2
0
thanks for the advice unfortunately i had no other choice but to pay the fine! i couldnt keep my daughter out on the street, and they refused to investigate, so what i did was i told them to move the Meter from its current position to the inside of the house Where the Technicians can read it but noone can tamper with it. they were reluctant to do it, but i told them if they didnt i would be cutting off their service and installing Solar panels! they changed theyre minds very quickly!
 

belgiank

Silver
Jun 13, 2009
3,251
103
0
Creative thinking, sure, but also very, very lucky.

We are in a situation where, both my neighbor and I get the most ridiculous bills. I usually pay around 4,000 rds per month, but one month I got a bill of 13,000 rds. I followed the advice of my neighbor and filed a complaint with some government office. On their advice I went to the Edenorte office, paid 30% of the bill, filed the complaint with the number I got from the government office, and was told they would look into it. Normally this meant, that according to government rules a technician had to come out daily to check everything. I never saw anyone, and after one week they just cut me off. Off course the government office all of a sudden had a nose bleed. I went to the Edenorte office, being very polite and gentle, but got told to either pay the bill and get luz, or not to pay the bill and get no luz. They also told me they did not give a **** about the government office.

In the meantime my Canadian neighbor left for his home country, and did not pay his last bill. So, of course he got cut off. Nevertheless Edenorte managed to serve him a new bill, for a month in which he had no electricity (he left 6 months ago...) for the amount of 14,000 rds. This was not an outstanding amount, but for usage that month... ????

This month I got the bills of the houses surrounding us. The owner of these houses opted to invest in a complete new wiring and meters by edenorte, costing him a couple of thousand dollars. Guess what... all his houses have air (ours does not), they have several tv's (not us), they have huge security lights on all night (we do not) and they pay a third of what we pay.

Edenorte still claimes we use the luz
 

djuno718

New member
Dec 1, 2007
163
2
0
yeah these fools think theyre slick, today they showed up to connect the meter, but they didnt want to move it from its current position like i told the supervisor at the edenorte office, they claimed that if they move it from its location then it would be hard for the techs to read the monthly usage. unfortunately i wasnt home @ the time, only my wife was in the house, but i will be calling tommarrow morning! i want that meter moved from its position so that i can INSURE that noone will tamper with it.
 

Rep Dom

Bronze
Dec 27, 2011
1,237
0
0
Hi, because of all these electricity bull****, dont you thnk it would be easier to be independant if one lives in a private house. Does anyone know how to get solar panels? Anyone got an experience on this?
 

Mauricio

Gold
Nov 18, 2002
5,607
7
38
In santo Domingo they sell solar panels in Pricesmart, no idea about the quality though. If I'm not mistaken you need an inverter for each panel which makes the investment kind of high and I doubt if you will ever earn it back
 

Rep Dom

Bronze
Dec 27, 2011
1,237
0
0
Hi Mauricio, I dont think an inverter is needed. I think the panels must be wired to batteries which is simplier and less expensive. Then I guess it s no good to buy panels in pricesmart. Better with a specalized company... Still, it seems to be a solution not to be bothered...
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
6,247
113
South Coast
yeah these fools think theyre slick, today they showed up to connect the meter, but they didnt want to move it from its current position like i told the supervisor at the edenorte office, they claimed that if they move it from its location then it would be hard for the techs to read the monthly usage. unfortunately i wasnt home @ the time, only my wife was in the house, but i will be calling tommarrow morning! i want that meter moved from its position so that i can INSURE that noone will tamper with it.

Just kind of thinking out loud here - but don't they sell some sort of metal cage that you can have installed over it? They have them for everything else!
 

puryear270

Bronze
Aug 26, 2009
935
82
0
Hi, because of all these electricity bull****, dont you thnk it would be easier to be independant if one lives in a private house. Does anyone know how to get solar panels? Anyone got an experience on this?

I looked into solar panels, and if you'll do a search on the forum here, you'll find the same advice. Basically, the installation cost is still too expensive to make the investment worthwhile. However, as the technology progresses, that may not be the situation in a few years, and that's when everyone can tell Edenorte where to go.

Just kind of thinking out loud here - but don't they sell some sort of metal cage that you can have installed over it? They have them for everything else!

I have seen metal cages over the meters at a few homes. Basically, you have to have someone build it for you. And the main reason homeowners have the cages installed over their meters is to keep the electric company from changing the meter without the owner's permission. If they think you aren't paying enough here in the south, they come and install a new meter.
 

djuno718

New member
Dec 1, 2007
163
2
0
I have seen metal cages over the meters at a few homes. Basically, you have to have someone build it for you. And the main reason homeowners have the cages installed over their meters is to keep the electric company from changing the meter without the owner's permission. If they think you aren't paying enough here in the south, they come and install a new meter.


Do you need authorization from edenorte to do that? even though they told me that the meter is my responsibility not theirs so im guessing i can do what i want with it.
 

donP

Newbie
Dec 14, 2008
6,942
178
0
No lines in, no lines out.

In reading all this I am glad not being connected to any MM-infrastructure.
We have our own power and water supply.
Have had it for 16 years.

And that's good. :bunny:

donP
 

djuno718

New member
Dec 1, 2007
163
2
0
i will see how much they charge me for a metal cage, a friend of mine is an hierrero. now they dont want to move the meter!
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
21,843
191
0
38
yahoomail.com
I have a "Detroit Diesel",20 kilos.It's way"TOO BIG" for my house,so I just use it to charge my batteries when the street power goes off.It costs about 100 pesos an hour for "Gas Oil",so it would cost me too much money to "Pull-The-Plug" on EDESUR,but I would love to.What's your per hour fuel costs,and do you have "street power" available.I thought of moving to the "Campo" with a 7 to 10 kilo propane generator,plus invereter/solar???????? system.
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