The president of the Chamber of Commerce and Production of Santiago, Juan Alfonso Mera complained that Unión Fenosa-Edenorte has not carried out necessary investments to improve service in the north area of the country. At a chamber luncheon, he said that improvements have been made by AES-Distribuidora del Este that is in charge of power in the eastern region of the country, not so by the north area concessionaire, Unión Fenosa-EdeNorte. Mera joined hundreds of others that have criticized the billing practices of the power utility. He said that prior to privatization, an employee of any company in Santiago was allowed to be present when the counter was being read, and to sign the report. Today, he said, the counters are read "freely" which impedes verifying whether the reading is correct or not, which affects the profitability of the companies. He says that the power outages have increased, but the billing continues at the same levels. Several institutions companies and individuals have repeatedly complained that the power distributors are charging for the blackouts. The Superintendent of Electricity has confirmed this practice, but has said that since Congress has not passed the General Electricity Bill, his organization can do nothing to stop the abuses. Recently, the editorial writer of page two writer of the Hoy newspaper, baptized the power distributor in the north as "Jode Norte".
