Cesar Sanchez, administrator of the Dominican Electricity Corporation, told El Siglo newspaper that a single indexed price was established in contracts between the state and the generator companies for fuel used by power plants. He says that this index is based on the most expensive fuel used by the power plants, even if the companies use a cheaper kind of fuel. Hugo Guiliani, a former Central Bank governor who heads the presidential power commission, has said real fuel consumption in March was US$18 million and the generators billed the state US$25 million. Guiliani favors negotiations with the generators to avoid passing on the excess charge to consumers as the government plans to do starting 1 July. Andres Dauhajre, economic advisor to the Presidency, has said that the generators are overbilling the government RD$7,500 million a year given the difference between what is consumed and what is reported as consumed. He favors the government getting around the contractual agreement by purchasing the fuel and then supplying it to the generators. Kevin Manning, formerly with Smith-Enron power plant and now general manager of Ege Itabo, told El Siglo newspaper that he expects the government will not make the mistake of intervening in the contracts. He said the contracts were signed with the distributors not the state.
