This Monday, the Comision de Asuntos Energeticos had been in agreement with alternatives proposed by the Inter American Development Bank and the World Bank. On Tuesday, the 14-member commission that is in charge of deciding the future of the state electricity utility (CDE) had changed its mind, as per news reports. Now the CDE will be divested into three companies, as Senator Angel Perez y Perez (PRD-Pedernales) told the press yesterday. Among other modifications in the Energy Bill under study by Congress is the authorization of distributor company affiliates to 30% of the national demand, up from 15% at present. Also the authorization to municipalities to compensate for being charged for power consumption by the cities and towns by the privatized power distributors by allowing these to charge for the use of the air space, thus one charge would annul the other. Concession terms for 18 months down from 10 years for companies interested in generating power. The idea is to avoid companies from securing concessions to later sell these at a higher price in the future.
