Rafael Zapata, president of the Chamber of Energy, said that private generators operating in the DR are about to start a legal suit against the three electricity distributor companies for lack of payment. El Siglo newspaper publishes Zapata saying that the distributors owe RD$2,332 million. The generators say that the distributors have not been proactive enough in collecting from consumers that do not pay. The newspaper article says that the distributors, to cut their losses, have resorted to cutting power supply in areas with high concentrations of non-paying consumers. AES Distribuidora, one of the three distributors, as reports El Siglo, confirmed this. As per the newspaper article, seven Dominican and foreign generators contribute 41.3% of the total power generated last year. The article explains that the distributors who are pressing the government to cover the losses of supplying power to poor neighborhoods are not paying the state-owned Dominican Corporation of Electricity, that serves as an intermediary between the generators and the distributors. The lack of payment of the distributors affects the ability of the CDE in turn to pay the generators.
