The president of the National Council of Businessmen (CONEP) rejected that the state electricity utility (CDE) ordered the reestablishment of power to government institutions that are in arrears with private power distributors. In a press release, Celso Marranzini president of CONEP said that this sets a bad example and can only can be backed by the thousands that have never paid for the service. He said it gives a bad name to the Dominican capitalization process. The president of the Asociación de Empresas Industriales de Herrera, Antonio Espín earlier had spoken up favoring that the power distributors suspend government service. He said this reduces the need for the distributors to further burden those that pay for power by increasing rates and other practices. Following privatization, the new companies duplicated reconnection services, and the charges for installation of new services, as well as increased billing totals, which are known to not fluctuate with consumption. Locally, the main complaint is that the power distributors are charging those that pay for the blackouts. The government has said it can do nothing to stop these companies, as Congress has not passed the General Electricity Bill that would provide a regulatory framework. Meanwhile, the power distributors suspended the service to several government organizations, and the CDE, the state utility that owns 50% in the distributors after privatization, reconnected these. Yesterday, Unión Fenosa-EdeNorte disconnected other government institutions in the province of Santiago.
