Christmas holidays have begun with more than the usual blackouts. The CDE agreed to make payments today on a US$14 million debt claimed by the private power firm, Smith-Enron. Meanwhile, it was reported the Smith Enron plant was generating 140,000 kilowatts of a total 185,000, contributing to the present electricity deficit. The CDE has repeatedly demanded that the firm provide a stable flow of energy which has not occurred, reportedly due to technical difficulties since their installation. The president of the board of the CDE, Celso Marranzini, had said he favors the militarization of the power plant in view of the low production of kilowatts the private company was delivering. The Dominican government contract with the private generator was reportedly signed with conditions that are extremely onerous to the CDE. For instance, the CDE is obliged to pay the firm for installed capacity and not energy served. A study of the power plant indicates that it was inadequately installed and suffers from maintenance problems caused by its location near the ocean. A study of the situation of the CDE carried out by a German consulting firm, Decom, indicates that "clients have to finance the relatively high earnings of the private generators and loans made by the CDE." The electricity demand in peak hours is 1,250 megawatts, but the CDE is barely serving 985 megawatts. As a result, Dominicans are suffering through 10-15 hour blackouts during these pre-Christmas days. This has been the situation maintained for the past 20 years, and thus businesses and many homes have had to resort to individually operated private generators, which solve their problems but at a high cost. During the last four years of the Balaguer administration several private power plants were installed with the past government awarding very favorable contracts leaving the new authorities with additional problems.
