The Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad is putting up for bids the fuel it purchases for its power plants. The CDE seeks to save the inter mediation fee it now pays to Shell, Esso, Isla or Texaco that serve as middle men in the purchase of fuel at the present time. The CDE general administrator, Radhamés Segura was previously administrator of the Refinería Dominicana de Petróleo. He acknowledged that 38% of the refining capacity of the Refinería is dedicated to processing fuel oil for CDE power plants and that if the CDE didn’t purchase the fuel the refinery would have to close down. Segura feels, though, that it is not fair that locals have to pay a higher cost in order to keep the obsolete plant running. He estimates 10 to 20% savings once the fuel is purchased directly from the producers.
