According to the List?n Diario, the government has paid the Cogentrix power facility in San Pedro de Macoris a sum of US$41 million. The Superintendent of Power, George Reinoso, affirmed to reporters that the state emit payment to Cogentrix last Friday, thereby eliminating one of the obstacles to starting renegotiation talks on the contract with the 300-megawatt facility and putting it back into operation.
On Monday, 7 July, the financial officer of the Cogentrix plant, Leonel Mesa, had told the List?n Diario that conversations were taking place but that ?no solution had been reached.?
This was one day after President Mej?a had said that they had paid them US$50 million.
While the authorities would like to get the 300 megawatts back online, the current contract contains several clauses that are considered to be highly onerous to the country. For this reason, the government has preferred to pay the generating facility US$3.8 million a month while it remains shut down, rather than pay for electricity at over-inflated rates.