Electricity engineer Luis Arthur wrote in Hoy newspaper on Thursday, 10 June to suggest that the government not relinquish control of the EdeSur and Edenorte power distribution companies and instead grant concessions for the collection offices in the neighborhoods, as a form of franchise. Arthur said these offices should be owned and run by people who know the neighborhoods, and who would operate under careful and professional supervision. The concessionaires would profit by collecting commissions and because they know the neighborhoods would be more likely to improve the collections than the outsiders that have been used up to know. He explained that the use of grassroots folk who are familiar with the communities could increase collections so much as to dispense with the present system whereby a small sector of consumers must subsidize service for the thousands who do not pay. This in turn, according to Arthur, would prompt direct relief in the form of lower rates for all consumers.
Over the weekend, economist Elizabeth Riley de Dauhajre (wife of presidential economic advisor Andy Dauhajre of the Fundacion Economia y Desarrollo) wrote about the success of pre-paid meters in South Africa and India, while suggesting that the Dominican government look into this modality to increase the number of those who pay for the service in the DR. Years ago, an Israeli company proposed the installation of pre-paid meters in the barrios where the power distributors were having a hard time collecting for the service. The new system, though, requires an initial investment in the meters, among other costs.