Karl Huber, spokesman for AES Distribuidora del Este, one of the two companies allotted territory for marketing and distributing power in the DR, says things are better than most perceive. "Things are improving," he said when speaking to the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, regarding the electricity situation. He said that some US$800 million has been invested in the sector, and that only time is required for Dominicans to start feeling the improvements. He said that at the time of the entrance of the private distributors, the demand was more than 1,600 megawatts, and supply was around 1,200 megawatts; transmission lines were in bad condition, less than 30% of the consumers had electricity meters, losses were around 60% and there were around 500,000 consumers fraudulent consumers. Also speaking during the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon, Marcos Cochón, Superintendent of Electricity, concurred that Dominicans are better off today. He said that the average duration of blackouts prior to capitalization was 5 hours, and these were down to 2.18 hours as per August-December 1999. He said generation in 1995 was 900 megawatts, and it’s up to 1,500 megawatts. For the next three years an investment of US$1,200 million is needed.
