Bills from Edenorte

Chester4

*** Sin Bin ***
Feb 12, 2004
281
0
0
I am having a battle with Edenorte who recently gave me three bills one for 14,000 pesos one for 6,700 pesos and one for 7.600 pesos.

I had two power surges in March within 3 weeks of each other this is the 14,000 pesos bill the other two are for April & May. One does not even have a reading. Previous bills are around 2,000 pesos per month.

I took photographs of the damage the power surge did in my house in March went to the Sosua office first... they did'nt think anything of this - so, I went to POP gave them copies of the photographs of the damage... burnt out inversor, television, phones, computer, modem, music centre and they made a report. Nothing else was done. Now they are saying that the 14,000 pesos bill has nothing to do with the power surges I had in March.

Can anyone suggest what I should do... is there a complaints office and has anyone managed to get anything sorted out with Edenorte?

Thanks for any help or advice.
 

Chris

Gold
Oct 21, 2002
7,951
28
0
www.caribbetech.com
We used to have a lot of information on how to deal with Edenorte on the forum Chester. Perhaps you should do a search and look at some of the old posts. My sense is things are a little better, but once you get into a shouting match with Edenorte, you're always the loser. Do a search on Edenorte and check out the old posts.

From what I remember, and what we do religiously, is to pay on the spot, and to keep a record of average consumption. If your consumption jumps up all of a sudden, you have a reason for a complaint ... (that is if you have not done anything to cause it). If Edenorte is around 'fixing' things, one of us makes a habit of going outside and taking a photo of the meters, where the technicians can see us doing it.

Check if the neigbors are tapped into your electricity. When Edenorte is on, stand outside, have someone turn of your main breaker to the electricity and check if another house/apartment nearby goes dark at the same time. People have managed to sort things with Edenorte, but mostly it is pay first, shout a lot, keep paying at your normal rate, and then get a refund eventually.

We keep every Edenorte bill, and every receipt. The Edenorte file in our office is almost more important than the customer files. The only way you can overwhelm them, is with the 'weight of historical evidence'.

Our current Edenorte story - Last Friday, our Cable company came around to install a new cable. The found the Edenorte wires in their way, and promptly cut them - with the feed to our house and office. When the batteries started getting to empty and the inverters started beeping, we realised something was wrong and after checking, called Edenorte on Friday evening. They said Saturday. Saturday at around 11 we called again. They said Monday. Monday at 8pm we called again. They said Thursday after the elections, after which my husband became really nasty and in his best Spanish let fly a few diablo ..... whatevers and simply shouted. The Edenorte technicians came in 10 minutes. There is a very funny post on the board, about 3 or more years ago by Ken, where he tells how he deals with Edenorte. Btw, they are not interested in what they blow up .... I've stood there with fans and equipment in the office ... and even if someone is really interested, they will not even say sorry....
 

Chester4

*** Sin Bin ***
Feb 12, 2004
281
0
0
Chris said:
We used to have a lot of information on how to deal with Edenorte on the forum Chester. Perhaps you should do a search and look at some of the old posts. My sense is things are a little better, but once you get into a shouting match with Edenorte, you're always the loser. Do a search on Edenorte and check out the old posts.

From what I remember, and what we do religiously, is to pay on the spot, and to keep a record of average consumption. If your consumption jumps up all of a sudden, you have a reason for a complaint ... (that is if you have not done anything to cause it). If Edenorte is around 'fixing' things, one of us makes a habit of going outside and taking a photo of the meters, where the technicians can see us doing it.

Check if the neigbors are tapped into your electricity. When Edenorte is on, stand outside, have someone turn of your main breaker to the electricity and check if another house/apartment nearby goes dark at the same time. People have managed to sort things with Edenorte, but mostly it is pay first, shout a lot, keep paying at your normal rate, and then get a refund eventually.

We keep every Edenorte bill, and every receipt. The Edenorte file in our office is almost more important than the customer files. The only way you can overwhelm them, is with the 'weight of historical evidence'.

Our current Edenorte story - Last Friday, our Cable company came around to install a new cable. The found the Edenorte wires in their way, and promptly cut them - with the feed to our house and office. When the batteries started getting to empty and the inverters started beeping, we realised something was wrong and after checking, called Edenorte on Friday evening. They said Saturday. Saturday at around 11 we called again. They said Monday. Monday at 8pm we called again. They said Thursday after the elections, after which my husband became really nasty and in his best Spanish let fly a few diablo ..... whatevers and simply shouted. The Edenorte technicians came in 10 minutes. There is a very funny post on the board, about 3 or more years ago by Ken, where he tells how he deals with Edenorte. Btw, they are not interested in what they blow up .... I've stood there with fans and equipment in the office ... and even if someone is really interested, they will not even say sorry....

Hi Chris.... thanks !
When we had the two power surges in three weeks and Edenorte were around trying to find out what happened :ermm: they would not let us take photos of them working by the meter and refused to carry on if we even tried to take some photos.
We have rented our house for three years now and every bill has been around 2,000 pesos. I am waiting for an Electrician to come tomorrow to do a report on what he thinks has happened.. will post again on this.
I think my Lawyers are going to have to get involved too.... I have already spent out on repairs or replacements around 50,000 pesos. Luckily I have kept receipts, photos and all the burnt out equipment.
I will do a search as you suggested.
 

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
I had a bill which came to 8k pesos once. I was told that they hadn't taken a reading on my meter for months so now I have to pay the differance at once. I was furious so I called my friend in the governor's office who in return called the big boss at Edenorte. When I showed up there, I was received by the boss's secretary and I was offered coffee. While I sat there for 10 mins, I was greeted by another man of authority and I was assured that I will be well taken care of. well, after 10 mins, the secretary came back with an appology and reduced my bill to less than 3K. I paid it on the spot and left. no more problems for me eversince.
So the moral of the story is: know some important dominican and your problems will be solved only by a phone call.
AZB
 

Chester4

*** Sin Bin ***
Feb 12, 2004
281
0
0
AZB said:
I had a bill which came to 8k pesos once. I was told that they hadn't taken a reading on my meter for months so now I have to pay the differance at once. I was furious so I called my friend in the governor's office who in return called the big boss at Edenorte. When I showed up there, I was received by the boss's secretary and I was offered coffee. While I sat there for 10 mins, I was greeted by another man of authority and I was assured that I will be well taken care of. well, after 10 mins, the secretary came back with an appology and reduced my bill to less than 3K. I paid it on the spot and left. no more problems for me eversince.
So the moral of the story is: know some important dominican and your problems will be solved only by a phone call.
AZB
You are lucky to know people in the right places AZB but not everyone has this ... although I was at a meeting that took place last year which Leonel attended ... wonder if he could sort this Edenorte bill out for me ! ;)
Seriously now.. if I get to purchase a house one day I will have nothing to do with Edenorte... I will be a very happy :bunny:
 

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
Chester4, contacts are made, they just don't drop on your lap. I had always insisted in old posts that foreigners should always make contacts with well-to-do dominicans. I have stopped saying all that becuase my message just seems to fall on deaf ears. Almost 99% of foreigners who live in resort areas only associate with their own kinds and if they do get to know a dominican, its always the one who is not far from the level of a motoconcho.
Now if you read most of the troubled posts on this board, you will notice that almost all the foreigners who get into some sort of trouble in this country are the ones who live in coastal resort cities or the ones who have zero contact with decent established dominicans. People hardly hear people like Hillbilly, myself, Rob, randy etc get into any trouble with the law or with utility company. We know people in the right places and they are the ones who protect us.
Now soon I will have a BBQ in my house, guess who will attend it?
let me see: a well known dentist, a director of water company, maybe 2 lawyers and if the newely re-elected congressman has the time, he would run to my house to eat some tandoori chicken. These guys alone know all the important people you will ever need.
These guys are my real friends and I am also invited to their festivities. I don't know a single jobless dominican or a dominican who does own a car.
Stay with the right people and all your troubles will be history.
AZB
 

Snuffy

Bronze
May 3, 2002
1,462
6
0
Yes you are so right. That is why I realize that in order to live here successfully I have to upgrade my Spanish. You cannot communicate with these type of people in broken spanish. The little incident in my SUV last time further confirms that good spanish equals success here. Am I right?
 

juanita

Bronze
Apr 22, 2004
1,893
115
0
57
A while back a friend also had her TV,VCR, DVD player and Home Teather damaged from a surge. She went to the office here in Santo Domingo and got refund 60% of the cost.
 

Robert

Stay Frosty!
Jan 2, 1999
20,574
341
83
dr1.com
AZB don't you get it yet? Dominicans are stupid, why would we want to associate with them?

Hey, can someone please tell me who those people are working in the office buildings, banks, own successful businesses etc?

Chester4,

First... Make sure nobody is stealing from you. Turn off everything and see if the meter is running. I know it sounds obvious, but many people do not do this simple step.

Your'e going to either have to be on their doorstep everyday talking with them or have a Dominican friend help you out. Often they read the meters incorrectly or not at all. If you have all the paper work and facts, you should not have a problem.

Do not argue in the office, this will just create walls and turn people off. Go make a friend and look like you really need help. Can you imagine how many pig headed arrogant gringos they have to deal with in the Sosua office? Be different, smile, stay calm, be nice. Dominicans like to help and will help you if you treat them with respect and don't attack them.

Good luck!
 

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
Snuffy said:
Yes you are so right. That is why I realize that in order to live here successfully I have to upgrade my Spanish. You cannot communicate with these type of people in broken spanish. The little incident in my SUV last time further confirms that good spanish equals success here. Am I right?
Good spanish communication skills are very important as well as good humor. If you want to win a dominican friendship, just make him laugh but please, keep it dominican humor, not monty python stuff.
One must dress professionally when they visit someone's office. I see so many foreigners walk around in T shirts, slippers, shorts and uncombed hair as if they have just gotten off the bed. These foreigners have no clue as to, how to dress for the proper occasion. I have had friends visit me in santiago from sosua and came in in their swimming pool shorts. Now this limits our outing to only a few places: a river, sitting in my backyard or maybe a chimi churri stand. I could never take them anywhere in swimming shorts.
So dress well, speak proper spanish, be respectfull and humorous. The rest will fall in place.
AZB
 

AZB

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
12,290
519
113
Robert said:
AZB don't you get it yet? Dominicans are stupid, why would we want to associate with them?

Hey, can someone please tell me who those people are working in the office buildings, banks, own successful businesses etc?

Chester4,

First... Make sure nobody is stealing from you. Turn off everything and see if the meter is running. I know it sounds obvious, but many people do not do this simple step.

Your'e going to either have to be on their doorstep everyday talking with them or have a Dominican friend help you out. Often they read the meters incorrectly or not at all. If you have all the paper work and facts, you should not have a problem.

Do not argue in the office, this will just create walls and turn people off. Go make a friend and look like you really need help. Can you imagine how many pig headed arrogant gringos they have to deal with in the Sosua office? Be different, smile, stay calm, be nice. Dominicans like to help and will help you if you treat them with respect and don't attack them.

Good luck!
Perfect advice.
here is another thing to look out for.
Some one mentioned that if you turn off the main breaker in your meter and the house next door goes in to a black-out as well then chances are they are stealing from you.
Not so simple:
If the house next door is stealing from you and if they have a inverter then you will not see a blackout in their home when you would shut off your breaker. Do what rob told you to do: disconnect everything from your house, including fridge and unplug TV, microwave stereo etc. The main stressing point is "unplug" not simply turning it off. Now see if the meter is moving. This will clear any doubts.
AZB
 

Simon & Nicky

Bronze
Feb 3, 2004
655
14
0
www.simon-hall.co.uk
How did you get on?

I referred Chester to the Superintendencia de Electricidad (Protecom) in Puerto Plata. My 38000 peso bill has been well documented - you will be pleased to know that the last time I heard they had got Edenorte to drop it to 4000. I'm still waiting for the final bill to come - I don't know if it ever will or if they'll just give up. Protecom rocks!! Edenorte hate them, they are the Gringo's best friend against stupid bills - they specifically told me to go back to my friends and tell them not to pay any stupid bills and to bring them all to them. If we all stand up for ourselves and say enough is enough Edenorte will eventually stop this ridiculous and highly illegal game. I urge any of you to go to Protecom with any complaint that you have, no matter how small.

You can reach them in Puerto Plata on 809 586 9057 or 809 586 7125. The first thing that they will do is MAKE Edenorte reconnect you while the problem is being resolved. You don't have to be frightened that Edenorte will come and disconnect you, once you've got your "reclamation" they are not allowed to disconnect your supply for any reason.

Santiago numbers are 809 241 2500 and fax 809 581 9059

Good luck!


Simon
 

Chester4

*** Sin Bin ***
Feb 12, 2004
281
0
0
Simon & Nicky said:
I referred Chester to the Superintendencia de Electricidad (Protecom) in Puerto Plata. My 38000 peso bill has been well documented - you will be pleased to know that the last time I heard they had got Edenorte to drop it to 4000. I'm still waiting for the final bill to come - I don't know if it ever will or if they'll just give up. Protecom rocks!! Edenorte hate them, they are the Gringo's best friend against stupid bills - they specifically told me to go back to my friends and tell them not to pay any stupid bills and to bring them all to them. If we all stand up for ourselves and say enough is enough Edenorte will eventually stop this ridiculous and highly illegal game. I urge any of you to go to Protecom with any complaint that you have, no matter how small.

You can reach them in Puerto Plata on 809 586 9057 or 809 586 7125. The first thing that they will do is MAKE Edenorte reconnect you while the problem is being resolved. You don't have to be frightened that Edenorte will come and disconnect you, once you've got your "reclamation" they are not allowed to disconnect your supply for any reason.

Santiago numbers are 809 241 2500 and fax 809 581 9059

Good luck!


Simon

Thanks Simon & Nicky.... Its strange that every month I get my bill delivered but March & April were never delivered (these bills are for 14,000 and 7,000 pesos) I then receive May's bill for 6.700 pesos. When I went to the Sosua office last week they presented me with the March and April bills. Unfortunately, unless I receive a bill I forget to pay them.
Anyway, now I have March, April and May to pay. I think they planned this somehow... thinking I would panic and not want my electricity cut off and just pay ... but they are wrong :bunny:
I will call the office you suggested in POP and go there... I will keep calm and look helpless !! I already have a report made with Edenorte Office in POP about the Power Surges and all my still burnt out equipment. Gave them copies of photographs taken etc... But between the landlord of my house and Edenorte no one is taking any responsibility ... will post again with some news.
Thanks again... Chester4
 

sirlurksalot

Member
Apr 2, 2002
60
0
6
edenorte

Hi, this is an interesting tread. Everybody seems to be complaining about paying exorbitant electric bills. My problem is just the oposite. I built a little house in a small fishing village on the north coast and, and, when the time came to get electricity I went to the Edenorte office in my region to get hooked up. They were not too busy...as far as I could see. We got to sit down with a representative in fairly short order. She went thru a lot of gyrations as far as paper work is concerned and said everything was ok. I asked how much I owed and she said "nada". Since it seemed like they weren't too busy I asked how long it would be until they came out to install a meter. She said 2 or 3 months. I told her we were only going to be in the DR for maybe 2 or 3 weeks and could they speed it up a little bit? She reiterated "2 or 3 months". When we got back home we did like most of the people in the town do we hired someone with a long ladder to climb up the pole and hook us up. He wanted 200 pesos for his trouble. Four months have gone by and the electric company has still not been by to install our meter. We even bought a meter base for them to push the meter into. We don't want to steal our electricity but their service/attitude is so indifferent that we would still be waiting for them to come when they don't give a damn if they ever get you hooked up! This may sound like a rant...but it isn't. We are very happy with our 'free' electricty.
 

Chester4

*** Sin Bin ***
Feb 12, 2004
281
0
0
JDJones said:
To prevent these burnouts in the future, go to Americana and buy the small appliance current regulators they sell.

These are not the gang plugs used for PC's, instead they are a small vanilla colored box the size of a pack of cigarettes. Cost is around 700 pesos each.

You plug them into the wall, and your item of value into it. If there is a variation in voltage, either up or down, they cut the power to the appliance. You can get ones that cut off for 10 seconds, or for 3 minutes.

They're worth their weight in gold when it comes to protecting high $$ items.

Also, I have started to keep a record of daily readings from my meter. I read it every morning, and keep track of my daily consumption.

It certainly makes you aware of all the stuff you have around like the cable box, cel phone chargers, light bulbs and what have you that one frequently leaves on, and the difference it makes when you unplug them. I even unplug the router to the PC when I'm not using it.

Final result? I've gone from consuming close to 20KVA a day down to 5-6KVA. I used less than 200KVA last month.
And, when the idiots at the CDE estimate my consumption, I catch em.

Did you know when they estimate low one month, then charge you the actual the next month, what would have been billed at 3-4 pesos a kva is billed at 7, almost double. (Assuming your consumption isn't that high, of course)

A friend of mine that works in the CDE says this is a very common practice, and is one of the ways CDE gets money from those who pay, to make up for those that don't.

After the shock of what happened during the power surge ! I purchased a power surge protector costing around 9,000 pesos.. hope this works.. will find out in time I am sure.
Would love to find out the cost of having power in my house one day... what with a Invertor, batteries, power surges that damage everything, cost of power, power surge protector etc... etc.....etc.... or maybe I don't want to really find out.... :ninja:
 

Chester4

*** Sin Bin ***
Feb 12, 2004
281
0
0
Simon & Nicky said:
I referred Chester to the Superintendencia de Electricidad (Protecom) in Puerto Plata. My 38000 peso bill has been well documented - you will be pleased to know that the last time I heard they had got Edenorte to drop it to 4000. I'm still waiting for the final bill to come - I don't know if it ever will or if they'll just give up. Protecom rocks!! Edenorte hate them, they are the Gringo's best friend against stupid bills - they specifically told me to go back to my friends and tell them not to pay any stupid bills and to bring them all to them. If we all stand up for ourselves and say enough is enough Edenorte will eventually stop this ridiculous and highly illegal game. I urge any of you to go to Protecom with any complaint that you have, no matter how small.

You can reach them in Puerto Plata on 809 586 9057 or 809 586 7125. The first thing that they will do is MAKE Edenorte reconnect you while the problem is being resolved. You don't have to be frightened that Edenorte will come and disconnect you, once you've got your "reclamation" they are not allowed to disconnect your supply for any reason.

Santiago numbers are 809 241 2500 and fax 809 581 9059

Good luck!


Simon

I was in the Edenorte Office in Sosua this morning to let them know that I was going to Puerto Plata on Tuesday to sort these bills and asked them not to cut my electricity. They tried to get me to pay March & April (14,000 and 7,000 pesos) but I told them that I will not pay these until I am sure they are correct. Spoke to the Manager there also and made a 'Reclaimation' . Told the guy in the Office that so many people are having problems with Edenorte and that we are all talking about this. So, on Tuesday I am going to the Office that you have suggested ... will post again.