El Siglo newspaper headlines today that Dominicans pay the most expensive "light" bills in the world. The quotes are most likely included in the headline because many times Dominicans are paying for blackouts. The newspaper says that DR cost of electricity is US$0.07 per kilowatt, compared to a regional average of US$0.03. The high cost of electricity is attributed to high operational costs, organizational deficiencies of the system, deficiencies in the distribution network (losses estimated at up to 45%), and privileged contracts awarded to power suppliers. Some energy suppliers sell power at US$0.09. There was a time power was sold for US$0.12 the kilowatt. Businessmen complain this places the DR in a difficult competitive position. In the DR it is estimated that 44% of consumers do not pay for energy consumed, thus it has been a common practice to charge more to those who pay in order to compensate for those who do not pay. There are hopes that privatization will increase the number of Dominican households and businesses that pay for power consumed. It is also expected that in the medium term, the more efficient private companies will distribute energy at a lower cost and pass savings on to consumers. At least AES Distribuidora del Este, one of the companies, has said it is working on the improvements in the distribution lines in order to reduce losses. The company has said works will take approximately six months, during which time large sectors of the country will suffer from long blackouts.
