El Caribe is reporting that the Superintendent of Electricity wants to spread out the blackouts that are affecting the entire country, so that they are more ?equalized.? As reported, the plan is to ?distribute? two-hour blackouts to all of the circuits on the national grid and avoid the 10-hour+ daily blackouts that have become so common. The crisis that is affecting the power generation sector, however, intensified yesterday when 11 of the generators were out of service ?under administrative orders,? which is management-speak for lack of funds. The generation deficit reached 40% of the national demand.
The future looms even darker with the announcement that the 230 MW produced by the LPG plant at AES-Andres will be withdrawn from service on 19 June for lack of fuel. Through all of these tribulations, the government insists it does not owe the generators any money, while the generators are requesting payment of US$360 million.
According to statements by Edwin Croes, the economic advisor for the CDEEE, the government does not know how much it owes ? or how much it is owed ? because ?the invoices have not been reconciled.? Word of mouth nevertheless appears to indicate that the US$360 million figure is broken down thusly: US$70 million owed to Ede-Norte; US$45 million to Ede-Sur; and US$160 million to the CDEEE.
According to statements from AES-Andres, as of 31 January 2004, the debt corresponding to the energy sector was US$354.16 million, 85% of which belonged to the government. In subsidies alone, Ede-Este, run by AES, is claiming US$30 million, while the power distributors continue to accumulate debts of US$20 million every month.
With only 825 MW of electric power available, the scenario is the bleakest it has been in a long time. The aggravation of the crisis will continue as long as the government denies the existence of the purported debts to the power generators. Meanwhile, the suggestion to ?rotate? the blackouts in order to ?equalize? the situation will be launched by the CDEEE.
Radhames Segura, as a member of the PLD transition team and a former administrator of the CDE during the previous Fernandez administration, explained that the power service was stable during the election campaign because the government was using a US$32.5-million fund provided by the InterAmerican Development Bank to finance the purchase of fuel for the power generation companies.