Julian Nebreda, the president of AES Dominicana, told Hoy newspaper that the short-term solution to the extensive blackouts currently affecting the DR is for the Mejia administration to pay up its debts. President Hipolito Mejia said on Wednesday in San Cristobal, however, that his government does not owe the generation or power distribution companies ?a single cent.? Mejia asserted his support for Finance Minister Rafael Calderon, who said the government does not have debts with the power sector. Mejia also said the power companies should turn on the plants because ?the debt is pure fiction.? Mejia told the press that the state has paid all the debts pending with the electricity sector.
Meanwhile, on Thursday Cardinal Nicolas Lopez Rodriguez said: ?It is obvious, that there is a money problem. If those that produce power are not paid, they are not willing to accumulate debts.?
In Santiago, Luis Jose Bonilla Bojos, the president of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce, said there is an urgent need to create a model that makes the system financially sustainable ? which means obliging all users to pay for the power consumed. ?A model such as we have now, where a kilo of power is sold at US$0.16/kWh while internationally it costs US$0.05, is unsustainable and does not allow companies to be competitive,? he said. [In its May 2004 report, AES is requesting making official an immediate average rate increase of approximately 8.2 RD$/kWh, increasing the overall tariff to 0.16 US$/kWh.] AES recently circulated a comprehensive report on the situation of the electricity sector in the DR.
See http://dr1.com/news/2004/061404_aes_dominicana.pdf
Rates in the US, which also relies on imported fuel, are at approximately US$0.05/kWh. For a sample of power rates in the US,
see http://www.progress-energy.com/aboutenergy/rates/index.asp#b3
Meanwhile, Cesar Sanchez, the head of the governmental CDEEE and EdeSur and EdeNorte power distributors, concurred with Calderon that the government is even with the private companies. He said the government passes on power generated by the state-owned hydroelectric generators to the private companies. He said the government would explain its position in a press conference on Monday afternoon.