Hoy newspaper revealed that more than 700,000 users of the state electricity utility, the CDE, do not pay for their consumption. Among those not paying are businesses, industries and the government sector. An internal report of the CDE, to which the Hoy newspaper had access, indicates that of a total of 1.4 million consumers of energy, only 700,000 are duly registered as legal clients of the state utility. The residential sector receives RD$156.9 million in energy a month, but the CDE only is collecting RD$115.8 million, or a loss of RD$41.1 million. The CDE delivers RD$136.2 million in the commercial and government sector, but it recovers less than half, or RD$59.2 million. The industrial sector receives RD$179.2 million, but only pays for RD$163.3 million. The regularizing of the collection side of the CDE is seen as one of the priorities of the reorganization of that entity. The report indicates that the CDE’s own generators produce 51.6% of its energy, and 48.4% is purchased from private suppliers. The document indicates that after Puerto Rico and Cuba, the Dominican Republic is the largest producer of energy, with eight million gigawatts. It states that under normal conditions the CDE can serve 1,290 megawatts, of which 35% is consumed by the industrial sector, 38% by the residential sector and 20% by the commercial sector, with 7% for the government sector.
