Long eight and ten hour blackouts are again plaguing the DR after months of relief. The blackouts are attributed to the Los Minas V 105 megawatts power plant going off line for maintenance works, and to the delays in the new government plant, the Siemens 100 turbogas plant to enter into operation. At the same time, businessmen consider "inconceivable" the increases in billing at a time that the service is worsening. Jean Antonio Haché, of the Organización Nacional de Empresas Comerciales, an organization that gathers large shopping malls, complained that the high energy bills have a double effect on the cost of goods sold in their stores. He says the increasing electricity bills affect both the cost of the goods and the purchasing power of consumers that see their income affected by their own increasing electricity bills.
