The San Pedro de Macoris-based generation company Cogentrix will have to demonstrate that it is willing to renegotiate its contract for power generation before the Dominican government will pay the US$50 million debt owed. According to a source inside the presidential commission in charge of negotiating electricity contracts, President Mejia is adamant about renegotiating the terms of the contract. The three 100-megawatt Cogentrix generators have been shut down since 21 October 2002, making Cogentrix the only private power generator not to have sat down to work out new terms for its governmental contract. Their position is that the government must first pay its accumulated debt, thereby causing an impasse. Cogentrix has a 20-year contract, approved by the National Congress, that provides for the sale of electricity to the CDE and the resale of power to the distributors. Under the current terms of distribution, the CDE loses RD$75 million a month on electricity supplied by Cogentrix.
