The general administrator of the Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE), Temistocles Montas, told the newspaper Hoy that there are over 500 areas in the capital and the interior that are without electricity service because they have not been able to buy new transformers to replace the ones that have exploded due to overloads caused by illegal connections. Mr. Montas has announced that the CDE is receiving bids for the purchase of the transformers in order to restore services to the affected areas where the old ones were damaged by illegal connections leading to gross overloading.
Mr. Montas repeated the wish expressed by previous CDE administrators that those with the illegal connections pay their bill, as the state-owned electricity company is paid for only RD$400 million of the RD$700 million of electricity it produces per month “If everyone would pay his bill, the nation should have an uninterrupted service for many years.”
With the increased subsidy to the CDE by the central government, according to Mr. Montas, the company has been able to meet its monthly responsibilities to the private electricity suppliers, although the long-term debt to current and foreign suppliers has yet to be solved. Finally, Mr. Montas said that as of 16 September, the CDE was producing electricity well over the national demand, and that any power cuts would be due to repairs to the distribution network.