The government expects to generate RD$100 million a month by increasing residential, industrial and commercial electricity bills by 20-40%. The increases will affect all who pay more than RD$1,500 a month. The Minister of Industry and Commerce Angel Lockward announced that the measure will go into effect next month and will show up on July bills. President Hipolito Mejia said yesterday that the increases will not affect the economy. But the president of the electricity committee, Hugo Guiliani, has warned that the increases will be highly inflationary. Hoy reports that consumers in the Dominican Republic already pay the fifth highest power costs in Latin America.
