The Superintendency of Electricity is working closely with private power distributors to push ahead with the plan to get people living in low income barrios to pay for power. For the first time, residents in low income barrios are being billed for power. In the past, the service, though undependable, was subsidized by the government. Now the private companies need the income but their first efforts to install meters and get paid have met with firm resistance. This is fueled in part because by tales of increasing charges levied on those who pay for power service in the DR. The people living in the barrios fear they will have to pay higher and higher bills. Today there is a power surplus in the DR. This has resulted in the distribution companies breaking up the power circuits, isolating large areas where the majority of dwellers do not pay for the power service. Unlike in the past, neighborhoods and city areas where people pay their bills are enduring very few blackouts. Areas where people do not pay, in turn, are suffering long blackouts. In the past, the lower income barrios received the least blackouts as the government kept the lights on for safety reasons. Things are changing. After first efforts of the distributors have failed, the Superintendency has become their ally. That department is working with the barrio leaders to convince people that if they pay, blackouts will diminish. And quality of service will improve. The companies promise to replace the makeshift clandestine installations that have resulted in too many deaths. Jose Ovalles, Superintendent of Electricity, said that he has negotiated a RD$260 fixed charge (for a time period) in one large Santo Domingo neighborhood, La Zurza. There are some challenges in the area, though. For example how to install light posts in an area that is flooded everytime the Ozama River overflows. Ovalles explains that some of the people that have refused to pay for power service use water pumps to jet water up to upper apartment building floors from ground floors, have refrigerators, television sets, fans, and even some air-conditioners.
