EDE's to be Managed by Private Sector

[windeguy]

Las Edes serán gestionadas por el sector privado

Los empresarios deberán hacer inversiones por algunos US$1,600 millones en la electricidad en los próximos años.

listindiario.com

henery Ramirez
jhenery.ramirez@listindiario.com
Santo Domingo, RD
The electricity distribution companies (Edes) could be operated and managed by the private sector through a public-private alliance, as announced yesterday by the executive director of the General Directorate of Public-Private Alliances (DGAPP), Sigmund Freund, during the Breakfast of Listín Diario.
The official explained that the Government has already formally received a proposal for a public-private partnership for the Edes to be administered by the private sector, a project that has been worked on in recent months for Edenorte, Edesur and Edeeste.
Freund added that this plan has been discussed with international firms, such as the Unified Council of Edes and the Electric Cabinet. He clarified that it is not a question of privatizing the edes, but of capitalizing them. The State will not sell its assets, but the private sector will be in charge of managing the distributors and executing an investment plan that will entail about US $ 1.6 billion in the next six to seven years.
With these resources, Freund stressed, the private sector will have to better take charge of the electrical infrastructures, the substation lines, the marketing system and the efficiency of the national energy system.
“We are putting the management in the hands of the private sector. In addition, the electricity pact directs us to this because the State invests US $ 1,000 million and the losses in the distributors do not decrease, because there is no efficient management, the required investment has not been made in recent years and there is no total commercialization because there are many people who do not pay the electricity ”, emphasized the head of the DGAPP in the meeting headed by the president of Editora Listín Diario, Manuel Corripio; the director of Listín, Miguel Franjul, and the editor of the Economics section, Cándida Acosta.
Freund reported that this project would work on a targeted and not general subsidy, through the Solidarity card or another mechanism, citing as an example that if a person will be subsidized 150 megabytes of electricity every month, if they consume more than the stipulated will have to pay from there, a model that works in several countries.
He emphasized that through this public-private alliance, the State would part with those US $ 1,000 million that it must allocate to the Edes and can invest them in the construction of other works.
He also pointed out that the plan seeks for the government to remove that burden and to improve all electricity systems.
At the Listín Breakfast, Freund was accompanied by the technical deputy director of the DGAPP, Eliardo Cairo; the Deputy Director of Contract Management and Supervision, Alan Jiménez, and the Director of Communications, Elaine Nivar.

IN POINTS
Transmission
A PPP project that is also being promoted is the Expansion of the National Transmission System for the Electric Transmission Company (ETED).
Agreement
The objective of this plan is the construction of transmission lines and substations from 138 kilowatts to 345 kilowatts, including the maintenance of these assets during the term of the APP contract.
Time
This public-private alliance will have a 30-year contract, two for construction and 28 for maintenance, and will entail increasing inputs from renewable parks and efficient generation to reduce the deficit in the electricity sector.

 

[drstock]

It's fine as long as the government keeps some control of prices to customers. It seems to me that the EDEs will have monopolies in their areas so have a great opportunity to overcharge with no competition.

 

[windeguy]

Will private sector management of EDE's actually reduce theft, corruption and losses while increasing reliability? Or will it just be a half baked situation as it has been?

Time will tell.

 

[rubio_higuey]

Bad, bad idea. Just look into Puerto Rico. Administration handed over to a private company and things are right now worse than when it was all state managed. They are now even looking into ways to revoke the private license.

 

[chico bill]

Bad, bad idea. Just look into Puerto Rico. Administration handed over to a private company and things are right now worse than when it was all state managed. They are now even looking into ways to revoke the private license.

Nothing could be worse than PREPA in Puerto Rico. Luma has been transitioning only for a year. They can not be as corrupt as PREPA and unfortunately for them they had to take on the laziest workers in the world, those from the State managed electrical mafia.
I am sure any transition in DR would have to bring in the laziest of the Ede's workers too. Come to our area any day and you will see them sitting in their trucks in the shade for hours, usually from 2-5 PM

 

[rubio_higuey]

Nothing could be worse than PREPA in Puerto Rico. Luma has been transitioning only for a year. They can not be as corrupt as PREPA and unfortunately for them they had to take on the laziest workers in the world, those from the State managed electrical mafia.
I am sure any transition in DR would have to bring in the laziest of the Ede's workers too. Come to our area any day and you will see them sitting in their trucks in the shade for hours, usually from 2-5 PM

Those may be repair crews. They wait in shade until a call comes in. It's normal. Their duty is to wait until a call comes and then go do a repair. Then wait again. Usually they have a preferred waiting spot. They only do repairs. They do not do installs, disconnects or naything else. Just repairs. So waiting in shade when they are not doing a repair and there's no call, again, it's normal.

 

[NanSanPedro]

Those may be repair crews. They wait in shade until a call comes in. It's normal. Their duty is to wait until a call comes and then go do a repair. Then wait again. Usually they have a preferred waiting spot. They only do repairs. They do not do installs, disconnects or naything else. Just repairs. So waiting in shade when they are not doing a repair and there's no call, again, it's normal.

Good info, thanks. I see the same thing here in BC.

 

[rubio_higuey]

Also a medium sized-city (like Higuey for example) would have 4-5 of these repair crews per turn (they usually work 2 turns, 7 am to 3 pm and 3 pm to 11 pm). So there are times many will be idle. Also note, they are not only in charge of very local repairs (transformator problem on your nearby pole), but also repairs that may affect whole circuit or a large part of it. So I rather prefer them being idle than have fewer crews and wait for repair more than few hours (if reported during daytime).

 

[XTraveller]

The state or if you like the government should own the electric producers. As far as I known they only own one (punta catalina). This is where they (the state) can control the prices. As far as I known the state holds very little producers but then it would be interesting to know who owns the producers.........maybe politicals......!

 

[windeguy]

The state or if you like the government should own the electric producers. As far as I known they only own one (punta catalina). This is where they (the state) can control the prices. As far as I known the state holds very little producers but then it would be interesting to know who owns the producers.........maybe politicals......!

I could not disagree with you more. The "state" for both the water supply and distribution of electricity has proven itself to be corrupt beyond belief.
The DR still has power and water problems BECAUSE THE STATE IS INVOLVED.

 

[bob saunders]

I could not disagree with you more. The "state" for both the water supply and distribution of electricity has proven itself to be corrupt beyond belief.
The DR still has power and water problems BECAUSE THE STATE IS INVOLVED.

governments role should be as a regulator and inspector, not as an owner.

 

[chico bill]

Those may be repair crews. They wait in shade until a call comes in. It's normal. Their duty is to wait until a call comes and then go do a repair. Then wait again. Usually they have a preferred waiting spot. They only do repairs. They do not do installs, disconnects or naything else. Just repairs. So waiting in shade when they are not doing a repair and there's no call, again, it's normal.

Maybe but they could at least clean their trucks - the yare a mess and also clean the cartons from their lunch that they toss on the ground.
I could not sit for 3-4 hours like them, I would keep myself busy.
There is always something to be done. Anyone who has ever been in the construction type trades knows this to be the case