The Commissions for Public Enterprise Reform (CREP), as part of its continuing campaign to build public support for the upcoming capitalization of the Dominican Electricity Corporation (CDE), held yesterday a press encounter. Its main message: once CDE is capitalized, the government will no longer be able to set electricity tariffs with fiscal ends in mind (i.e., to raise revenues for the government), as the government did when it artificially raised the price of gasoline. CREP reiterated that electric rates will be kept stable for the first four years after capitalization, after which increased efficiency and competition will hopefully bring lower rates. While touting the immunity of post-capitalization electric rates from incorporating revenue-generating schemes, CREP officials did admit that future government could subject electricity to the Transfer Tax on Industrial Goods and Services (ITBIS) or create a new specialized tax on electricity consumption.
