The General Administrator of the Corporacion Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE) has announced that the state-owned electricity company will soon begin a scheme to check some 300,000 meters throughout the country in order to determine whether customers are being over or undercharged for electricity. It is widely recognized that the CDE loses much of its electricity generated to illegal connections that result in a free service for an undetermined amount of users. Mr. Romero has admitted that while many are paying for less electricity than they use, others are grossly overcharged. He also recognized that as the electricity service has been quite precarious at times in recent years, “the CDE lost credibility and its image was quite tarnished, creating a culture of non-payment to the company.”
In addition to the investigation of the
meters, Mr. Romero talked to the news media about new turbine gas plants that
will be introduced into the CDE’s distribution network starting in February and
the beginning of March. He also spoke with pride when pointing out that
electricity generation had risen above the 1,000,000 kilowatts per day mark, a
level never reached previously by the CDE and a feat that has considerably
reduced the length and frequency of power cuts. Mr. Romero, who said that
cooler temperatures have slightly reduced the electricity demand, emphasized
the success that his six-month plan to renovate the power plants has had in the
improvement of the electricity service.
19-25 January 1996