24/7 electricity

zoomzx11

Gold
Jan 21, 2006
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I live on Camino Llibre in Sosua which is the street that runs up the hill opposite the Texaco station. For two years have had the usual DR electrical circumstance. Suddenly and without warning we have lights 24/7. Does anyone know what gives, I am overjoyed and almost afraid to post and somehow jinx my most excellent situation. Asking around I have gotten two answers. One is that our area is paying their electrical bills and the other is that Residential Hispaniola wants full time electric and has paid to get it thus benefitting our entire street which is on the same line. Residencial Hispaniola is a large new gated community about half way up the hill. I am afraid that I will get used to it and return to my former gringo state of depending on electricity that does not go out all the time.
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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The electricity companies have been working in improving the system and since the beginning of this year hundreds of circuits across the country are now on the 24/7 plan.

Of course, it all depends on an agreement made between the EDEs and the residents within those circuits, usually the residents agreeing to pay their bill every month and the EDEs supply electricity non-stop.

Many neighborhoods in Santo Domingo and Santiago, among other places are already receiving electricity 24/7. The most recent town to get into the plan is Jarabacoa with the program being barely a week old. However, according to what I've been told, ever since the program was put in place in Jarabacoa the lights are on and they have not blinked for a second.

If no agreement has been signed between yourself and your neighbors with the Edenorte or if nothing has been said about Edenorte proposing to turn the circuit your hooked on into a 24/7 circuit, then its more likely that your taste of stable electricity could be due to the gated community you mentioned.

-NALs
 

cork

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Aug 23, 2003
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I live on Camino Llibre in Sosua which is the street that runs up the hill opposite the Texaco station. For two years have had the usual DR electrical circumstance. Suddenly and without warning we have lights 24/7. Does anyone know what gives, I am overjoyed and almost afraid to post and somehow jinx my most excellent situation. Asking around I have gotten two answers. One is that our area is paying their electrical bills and the other is that Residential Hispaniola wants full time electric and has paid to get it thus benefitting our entire street which is on the same line. Residencial Hispaniola is a large new gated community about half way up the hill. I am afraid that I will get used to it and return to my former gringo state of depending on electricity that does not go out all the time.

I too live on Los Llibres. The power may be full time due to the holiday yesterday. We will see what happens tonight.

We have strings of days with power that coincide with elections and holidays.

Our neighborhood group talked with EDENada and were told we could have power 24/7 if WE pressure all residents to legally hook up, and IF the rest of us got rid of our plantas and inversores. (fat chance) We are on the same schedule as Maranata and Abajo. If the change to more power was to be made, we would be on the same schedule as El Batey.
 

Chris

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Oct 21, 2002
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and IF the rest of us got rid of our plantas and inversores. (fat chance)

Did they really ask for that? I hope someone told them in excellent Spanish exactly what to do with themselves :laugh: Or someone is planning to go into the used planta and inversor business...
 

Ringo

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Mar 6, 2003
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We have had 24/7 elec. in Playa Chiquita since Dec. No one came here and asked for us to do anything. Power "just happened". I know one of the top guys (met after Dec.) and he said that: 1; in order to maintain and obtain more loans, they have to increase power delivered and money collected. 2; they have identifed areas that pay (mostly gingos). 3; upgraded lines and equipment in those areas.

My problem now is that our elec. bill is thru the sky. I have put a timer on the edenorte connection to disconnect for 10 hours (2 am to noon), run off inverters, 120 V, (so the AC that gets left on at night). Auto start the gen. 9 AM to noon to re-charge, start AC, run pool, do laundry and other heavy loads. I have cut my edenorte bill in half, but of course, paying for some diesel.

Ringo
 

Ringo

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BTW: as a side note. Keeping the batteries in "float" for long periods of time is not good for them and will degrade and age them quickly. They need to be cycled and still need to be boiled on a regular basis. The gen. also needs to be run, at least the recommended exercise periods.

Ringo
 

zoomzx11

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Jan 21, 2006
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thanks to all

Appreciate your input. I am coming back to earth after a few days in gringo electrical heaven by remembering that I am not in Miami and that here nothing is permanent. I am enjoying every minute in the meantime and hoping for one day more. Hope the rest of the country gets it soon. Best regards.
 

Luperon

Who empowered China's crime against humanity?
Jun 28, 2004
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help -I am trying to understand this DR electric situation

I have two questions:

1. Why would the electric company want a community to get rid of their invertor/battery backups?

2. How do you save money by disconnecting from the grid from 2AM to 12 noon, but use your batteries that were charged from that same grid?


just trying to understand
 

Ringo

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Luperon,

I can not answer question #1. It would not make sense for someone to ask and foolish for one to get rid of thier backups. Perhaps it was a joke from Edenorte.

2: First of all, I'm not an electrical engineer but willing to experiment.
My Gen. starts at 9AM and runs until Noon. This gives us 3 hours of gen time. It is the Gen. that recharges all the batteries. (I think that... for every amp. that comes out of the battery it takes 1.5 amps or more to replace during the charging process.) All the laundry is done including dryer for towls or other items if it is raining. Most of the hot water demand is on the gen. Also water gardens/lawns/washing car/filling pool etc. so water pump is on gen. time as much as possible. Running pool pump. We can tell before noon if we will want AC., so we start that as needed and can get room temps down before noon while on the gen. and reduce the AC demand for several hours while on the grid. Refilling ice trays/freezing.

In short, we run around for 3 hours doing what needs to be done requireing large elec. loads while on the Gen.

The other point is that AC will not run between 2 am and 9 am. We have a rental that likes to run the AC 24/7. Now they, and we cann't. (Who needs AC all night long?) Renters also fell in love with the dryer, running it three days a week for 6 hours at a time.... on full. (at noon, when we go back onto grid, I turned off breaker to dryer... got them trained/thinking that it will only work from 9am to noon.)

So far, cutting Edenorte bill in half while using some diesel appears to save us money. I am still working of the math as to actual savings/expenses. But this also gives us a "mental" period of time that I don't worry about my elec. use from the grid. Sort of a thumbing nose at Edenorte.

Sorry this got long. Good luck. Ringo
 

Squat

Tropical geek in Las Terrenas
Jan 1, 2002
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I always wonder why it is possible for "Luz&Fuerza", the Las Terrenas power company, to provide a 24/7 service, and collect money from all users, while the rest of the nation can't achieve the same goal...
 

mountainfrog

On Vacation!
Dec 8, 2003
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Distributing Energy

I always wonder why it is possible for "Luz&Fuerza", the Las Terrenas power company, to provide a 24/7 service, and collect money from all users, while the rest of the nation can't achieve the same goal...

Well, LT has a relatively high percentage of gringo residents who seem to pay more per kWh than 'normal' clients....
Thus this subsidizing system is just like in the rest of the DR where the paying users pay for the voting poor.

m'frog
 

Luperon

Who empowered China's crime against humanity?
Jun 28, 2004
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Thanks Ringo

Luperon,

I can not answer question #1. It would not make sense for someone to ask and foolish for one to get rid of thier backups. Perhaps it was a joke from Edenorte.

2: First of all, I'm not an electrical engineer but willing to experiment.
My Gen. starts at 9AM and runs until Noon. This gives us 3 hours of gen time. It is the Gen. that recharges all the batteries. (I think that... for every amp. that comes out of the battery it takes 1.5 amps or more to replace during the charging process.) All the laundry is done including dryer for towls or other items if it is raining. Most of the hot water demand is on the gen. Also water gardens/lawns/washing car/filling pool etc. so water pump is on gen. time as much as possible. Running pool pump. We can tell before noon if we will want AC., so we start that as needed and can get room temps down before noon while on the gen. and reduce the AC demand for several hours while on the grid. Refilling ice trays/freezing.

In short, we run around for 3 hours doing what needs to be done requireing large elec. loads while on the Gen.

The other point is that AC will not run between 2 am and 9 am. We have a rental that likes to run the AC 24/7. Now they, and we cann't. (Who needs AC all night long?) Renters also fell in love with the dryer, running it three days a week for 6 hours at a time.... on full. (at noon, when we go back onto grid, I turned off breaker to dryer... got them trained/thinking that it will only work from 9am to noon.)

So far, cutting Edenorte bill in half while using some diesel appears to save us money. I am still working of the math as to actual savings/expenses. But this also gives us a "mental" period of time that I don't worry about my elec. use from the grid. Sort of a thumbing nose at Edenorte.

Sorry this got long. Good luck. Ringo

Ringo,

Thanks for your answer. So the electric rates are so high it might be possible that diesel is cheaper? Wow I thought NYC electric rates were high.

Regards to Paul and George
 

santa110xyz

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Oct 25, 2005
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camino llibre 24/7

we have 24 h of power due to 3 people who fought for it!!! i fought for 3 years there were several meetings at my house with head of EDEnorte and some neighbors.... if you want to know more please email me leo@alltrust.net currently i am collecting 200 pesos from neighbors, to let make a big cake to say thank you to some edenorte stuff who helped me in my fight for a change for 3 YEARS!!!!!!!! if you like to contribute would be great ... with the remaining money we will organize a party with the neighbors.
also there is an important new discussion point: we will get street lights for free installed .... but we would need to collect money to buy the cables .... one neigbor has good cantacts to the mayor and she organized this!!! but we are in a hurry because they have designated some lamps for us.... if we will not get the cables soon for sure somebody else get the lamps!!!!

any further information about all this ... please write email and i will give you my tel # to explain the whole procedure ....

any help and dedication is more than appreciated!!! more people help - closer we get to the goal!!!
everybody told me - EDEnorte will never help...etc.... but i reached this goal!!!
it was hard work - lots of meeting -.....

BTW .... Hispanola did not support us at all!!! but Panorama Village did the biggest effort .... without them it wouldn't have been possible!!!!

have a great sunday
sandy
 

Ringo

On Vacation!
Mar 6, 2003
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Paul and George. Electric in the D.R. is one of the highest rates in the world... so I'm told and my bill seems to confirm that to at least some degree.

The way I am doing this may not work for others. (I admit that my wife and I are American Electric power hogs.) With a rental and live-in, we have three kitchens, 5 AC units two hot water heaters (that no one turns off).... etc. 5 people using hot water and laundry, bathing, using hair dryers.... etc.... The power plan that I am experimenting with takes considering the power used/when/how much/for how long. But even when I did not use the AC (that much), cut back on pool pump and turned off everything I could, the bill kept going up. (I have checked the meter and have that locked also.)

Each electric case will be different as each person (s) needs are. In most cases, the power companys power will cost less then running your generator.

Good luck, Ringo
 

Olly

Bronze
Mar 12, 2007
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Effects of 24/7 Power

Perla Marina between Cabarete and Sosua has been on 24hr electricity since February. This has had a number of consequences. The invertor and twelve batteries were set for fast charge with a final voltage of 27.3 Volts. This enabled the batteries to be recharged in about 6 hours at close to the maximum charging rate for the batteries. During earlier times power was off for between 30% and 40% of the time with outages lasting up to 9 hours on a regular basis and the occasional 15 to 21 hour cut.
With 24 hour power , the charging rate was such that the batteries used a lot of water and were always running hot. Power consumption was up about 20% pushing us close to the magic 700 KwH per month.
One battery did fail in early May and was replaced with a renovated battery that would match the characteristics of the remaining batteries rather than a new one which would be very different. The batteries were 23 months old from the date of manufacture and 21 months since installation. The charging current and voltage were turned down - voltage to 26.6 Volts - maximum and the maximum charging current considerably reduced. The batteries are now cool and water consumption well down.
Overall electricity consumption has dropped but 20 Kwh per week and we are now comfortably under the magic number of 700 KwH per month so long as we don?t run the air-conditioners too much.

This not only reduces the power bills but also keeps the batteries from making acid tea ( no not IcedTea).

Even with 24 hr power we experience several 10 minute outages a day , and often 2-6 hours off while they are working on the HV lines. This is an improvement from 30-40% but you need to manage the power consumption betterto stay under 700KwH.

Life to say the least is interesting here with very different challenges.

Olly
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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I always wonder why it is possible for "Luz&Fuerza", the Las Terrenas power company, to provide a 24/7 service, and collect money from all users, while the rest of the nation can't achieve the same goal...
Well, they are trying to fix the problem:

"Las tres empresas distribuidoras cuentan con 200 circuitos donde ofrecen energ?a el?ctrica 24 horas al d?a, lo que obedece al programa de recuperaci?n del sector puesto en ejecuci?n desde finales del a?o pasado y acordado con el Fondo Monetario."

IN ENGLISH:

"The three [electricity] distributors have 200 circuits where they offer electrical services 24 hours a day, pertinent to the efforts to recuperate the [electrical] sector executed since late last year and in accordance with the IMF."

Read more about this by clicking here

This story was published on April 2nd, 2007. Since then many other circuits have been placed on the 24 hours plan including various neighborhoods in Santo Domingo, Santiago and other places across the country. The most recent place to get into the plan is Jarabacoa.

These are places with very few expats and/or a very uneven ratio of locals to expats usually favoring locals.

Little by little they are fixing the problem, so people let's give them credit where credit is due.

-NALs
 

Olly

Bronze
Mar 12, 2007
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Generator Costs

In reply to Ringo
Since 24 hr power in Perla Marina we have taken various measures to keep our consumption as low as possible but we also have a generator. It is now only run it for a maintenance run once a month or for power management - run down the invertor batteries, switch the generator on for 6 hours , charge batteries - putting about 16 kWh in them - if we are getting close to magic 700 kWh
Our consumption of Diesel over the long run of two years has been 0.34 gallons per hour which roughly works out a 35 RD$ per hour run and 12-18 RD$ per kWh depending on how you work it out. This does not take into account maintenance such as oil changes, filters etc once a year.
The generator is a 3 cylinder Petter Engine Diesel rated at 11 KVA.

It does make sense to run the generator for 6 hours ( cost 200 RD$) to stay under 700KWh when you save 2000 to 3000 RD$ by doing so.

Thanks also Ringo for pointing out reply #6 about deep cycle batteries not liking long periods of float charging.


Olly