Edesur supply or not supply

Skippy1

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Feb 21, 2008
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Having lived here now for just over 7 months (Santo Domngo)
I arrived on the first day to be greeted by the landlord who told me the power was off because of a power cut but would be restored soon. I waited 2 hours and nothing then another two hours and eventually it came back on.

Ok I thought just one of those things it happens in the DR and its to be expected. The next day at 9.00am off it went not returning until 6.00 in the evening. Then off again at 8.00 and back at 10.00 when I went to bed.

same the next day and so on. the times varied but to say the power was off more than it was on in the daylight would be accurate. I asked the neighbours who all said dont you have an invertor? No I replied I have a contract with EDEsur why should I need one?

Oh well you see the problem here is we are in the middle of two barrios and they share the same supply line.....ok I said so they have the same problem...yes
well why is the power off so often and for so long? I asked

the response puzzled me They do it to punish the barrios for stealing the electricity .......oh right so thats ok then?????
what about me I dont steal it and pay my bills ontime?

Well you can try and speak to customer services I wish you luck said the nice lady downstairs.

So off I went to the offices of Edesur to be told I needed a copy of my lease contract before they would speak to me. So off home to get the papers (they already had a copy on file just too lazy to look for it) and returned to be told the lady who deals with your account is off today come back tomorrow.
Eventually I got to see the lady after many more attempts to catch her at her place of "work"

Ok she said its just unfortunate you are on the same line as the bad people.

Hold on what do you mean its unfortunate...I have a contract with you to supply me with power. I want you to honour your contract......we do Sir you get the bare minimum as we are prevented from cutting the barrios completely by law...we would if we could....... they steal the power as fast as we cut them off they are back again hooked online by some cowboy in the street.

Hey wait a minute I am not one of them I want some power and a service I contracted you to supply.

Well Sir I am sorry but have you got an inverter?

No and I dont want one thanks.

well thats too bad good day.

Now hold on why cant you supply a generator to supply the apartment block when the power is off.

No Sir thats too expensive all that diesel no its not possible.
So I have to have an inverter that will be large enough to supply my needs for up to 10 hours a day wow thats expensive for me at least 4 big batteries and an Inverter. estimate 40K.

I see so when I use the inverter I take the power from the batteries and when the power comes back you charge the batteries over night....I see

So what you are saying is EDEsur still get to charge me for the power during the day whilst they have cut me off...wow very clever. I also get the priveledge of paying for the systems and batteries too.

Can I complain to anyone about this.....?

You just have sir I hope you have a nice day?

Is it me or is the world going crazy?????????
 

Lambada

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Mar 4, 2004
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I asked the neighbours who all said dont you have an invertor? No I replied I have a contract with EDEsur why should I need one?

Love your sense of humour!! :laugh:

Is it me or is the world going crazy?????????

If you didn't ask the right questions and find out about power supply in your neighbourhood before you moved in seven months ago, then yes, it's you, I'm afraid. Sounds like the nice lady downstairs would have been more than prepared to tell you what it was like for them. Iffy power supply in the DR isn't exactly a well kept secret. When you move to your next apartment do your homework in advance. Then there will be no surprises.

And welcome to DR1 :) .
 

reese_in_va

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Feb 22, 2007
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It really is unfortunate Skippy1. I have to agree with lambada that doing your homework would have helped you in this situation. Had you known to do that prior to moving you would have been prepared or chose to find another place.
m'frog also tells it like it is.
For me moving here was one upset after another. No one gave me fair warning of the pertinent things one should know prior to making the move.
There doesn't seem to be much sense in "punishing" the honest paying folks by limiting there power down to nearly nothing. This is the cause and effect of theives stealing the power. Like the lady said, as soon as they disconnect the illegal lines and drive there truck away there is someone climbing the pole to reconnect it. That is the way it is here in the DR. In the campo, where I live, they won't even send the trucks to disconnect an illegal line, they know better. Makes you wonder "what am I paying for?".
An invertor is certainly a nessecity in a region where faulty, unmaintained and old lines are the only source available. Again, it is unfortunate because with an invertor the batteries suck a lot more juice than what you get out of them. I have had to replace two sets of batteries now because the time alloted for power has not met the demand to fully recharge the batteries, thus running them down to nothing over and over and over. For me at this point a generator is the solution for long term, maybe one that runs on propane and at least it will be me who decides when I have power. Going off the grid here...slowly becoming self-sustaining.
Good luck Skippy1 and yes, welcome to DR1
 

NALs

Economist by Profession
Jan 20, 2003
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Buy an inversor or move to a predominantly wealthy/upper middle class area that is not close to large barrios since those neighborhoods have power 24/7, except when there is maintenance.

Large areas of Arroyo Hondo, Los Prados, Cacicazgos, in the poligono central, etc are blackout free.

-NALs
 

NV_

Bronze
Aug 4, 2003
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Is it me or is the world going crazy?????????


Not sure if there world has gone crazy but this place IS crazy. Biggest advice I can give, learn to just live with it. No matter where you live you'll have to live with an inefficient powersupply. Even in the "blackout free" sectors you will have "interruptions". Not as often as the blackouts but still annoying.

Another piece of advice, never, NEVER waste your time complaining here. It will be wasted and you WILL leave even angrier than when you got there.

In reality, this country's goverment and infrastructure is a huge joke.... If you dont laugh at it, you will lose your mind or end up leaving the country.

Its a truly sad thing to see an island and people that are so beautiful, being squandered by a bunch of rich pieces of sh-t...
 
Feb 7, 2007
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Another piece of advice, never, NEVER waste your time complaining here. It will be wasted and you WILL leave even angrier than when you got there.

Don't agree. I got a RD$43,000 "other charges" taken off my friend's bill (friend is in the USA) after writing a 6 page complaint to EDE Este. The complaint was deposited at 3 pm, next day at 8 am the invoice was cancelled.

The "other charges" were warranted because my friend didn't comply with "acuerdo de pago" he has signed almost 2 years ago, was late on some of his invoices (distance reason) and the "to-be-forgiven" charge he was to get kicked away after complying with Acuerdo, did indeed kick IN when the "acuerdo de pago" period expired and the computers pulled up some invoices he paid late.

Ede Este was in their legal right to charge him (or better to say, not to "forgive") the RD$43,000

But the complaint was well written by me (I spent 3 hours drafting it) and worked the miracles.


The Ede este (errr... JodeEste) services are another thing to write about, but the point is: It is not true that complaints don't resolve anything in the DR. Sometimes they do. Sometimes it depends on your luck, and sometimes... on your ability to hit the right strings in the person reading and resolving your complaint.
 

Skippy1

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Feb 21, 2008
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Thanks for all the comments and advice.

When I moved here I was told that there were power cuts almost everyday.....nothing new I came from an apartment where there was at least one a day normally 1-2 hours at most. I could accept the problems of the power system here and as an Electrical Engineer I understand the issues with some of the infrastructure here.

My point was threefold
first : that 10 and 12 hour blackouts are not the norm or so I am told its exceptional and the frequency is inhumane. Even if you take into account that some are stealling the power there are others like me who are paying and paying for a service we cannot even hope to recieve so why bother to have a contract at all.

Secondly: If I was to install an inverter there are a few simple facts of electrical engineering that have to be accounted for. Primary no domestic inverter would last on even a basic load that long. as basic rule most inverters take 1.5 times as long to recharge the energy they discharge for example 12 hours at 10amps = 18 charge time at 10 amps. So for EDEsur they re laughing allthe way to the banReservas.
Rapidly you begin to run out of time to recharge and those who do not understand the principles start to blame the batteries and change them for new ones.

Lastly my complaint was that the government gave EDesur a monopoly on the supply here but they must have built in safe guards to protect the public from abue of "power" so in my case and the many others who share my problem here(we have just over 6 residences each with between 50 and 80 apartments....a lot of people!!!
EDEsur should be compelled by the bounds of governance and morality be pursuaded to at least supply an alternate means of supply.

However seeing as they make more money from the people who pay and have an inverter and no doubt take some pleasure out of teasing the barios they will never change....me thinks.

Oh and for the record I did ask about the electricity before I moved at the EDEsur offices and the nice lady said "Oh we are almost at 100% service in that area as we have just installed all new distribution lines........well even nice ladies can lie their heads off........
rant over now I am about to install 3 solar panels and a wind turbine on the roof bye.
 

Lambada

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Just so that you know Skippy, that EdeSur is no different from the others. EdeNorte suspended service to Ana G?mez sector in Villa Isabela even though not everyone was late paying. Yep, they didn't cut off the defaulters, they suspended the whole area!!
Puerto Plata Digital
 

Skippy1

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Feb 21, 2008
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Just so that you know Skippy, that EdeSur is no different from the others. EdeNorte suspended service to Ana G?mez sector in Villa Isabela even though not everyone was late paying. Yep, they didn't cut off the defaulters, they suspended the whole area!!
Puerto Plata Digital

Well at least thats reassuring to know they have not just picked on me because i am new and not been here very long.

Oh and just for the record I did not choose this apartment it is provided by my employers......and yes they are going to move me next week to a place next door to the Kuwaiti ambassador so we might be able to discuss the oil crisis over a few pink Gins....will let you know if Edesur treat the Arabs any different

Skippy1
 

augustus

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Dec 19, 2007
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I don't know if you were joking, but looking into solar panels is no joke, I visited a home in the hills outside of Caberette with a pool contracter friend of mine, I forgot exactly where but the older female ex-pat had solar panels on her garage that charged her batteries, expensive set up, but worked well from what I can see. When and if I build there, I hope I can have that set up, if affordable..............other than that, electric is one of the biggest problems in DR...........