On Sunday, the Listin Diario reported that the energy consumers of the country are overpaying by RD$6 billion pesos. The article by Edwin Ruiz says that the sustainability of the financial obligations of the electrical sector depend on a revision of the Madrid Accords. Luis Moreno, of the Institute of Energy at the state-run Autonomous University of Santo Domingo, feels that the negotiations could result in as much as a RD$500 million deduction in consumer billing each month.
According to the figures used by the institute, the electricity generators are overpricing their costs by as much as US$0.0125 cents per kilowatt/hour. This figure, combined with the indexing that entered into effect in July of this year, brings the total over-pricing to US$0.02? per kilowatt/hour, which adds up to RD$500 million pesos a month in potential savings.
Saturday’s edition of the Listin Diario carried the report that “independent” technicians from Latin America would evaluate the recent purchase of the electricity distributors. According to declarations made by Carlos Despradel, this is a necessary step in order for the purchase to permit the Dominican Republic to continue with the IMF standby arrangement. On Sunday, President Mejia promised to cut the electricity to the “deadbeats” that don’t pay for energy.