Jose Luis Moreno San Juan told the Listin Diario that the main distortion in the electricity system affecting consumers is the fact that they are being billed for extra costs not covered by the Electricity Law. Legislation in effect requires the power distributors to give users credits for every hour of blackout. Moreno San Juan, a former employee of Union Fenosa in the Dominican Republic now director of the Institute of Power of the UASD (the state university), said that the distributors have been allowed to bill consumers for ?electricity theft,? estimated at 20%. Electricity Law 125-01, however, does not authorize this charge. Moreno San Juan said that all studies performed show that the rate for low-voltage consumption should be between US$0.11 and US$0.12 kWh and ranging from US$0.095 and US$0.10 kWh for medium-voltage. The average rate at present time, however, is US$0.145 kWh.
The Listin Diario also reports today that, according to the consumer rights foundation Fundecom, National Council of Business leader Elena Viyella de Paliza was mistaken when she said in her talk at the American Chamber of Commerce luncheon that the government and power distributors had agreed to not raise the power rates. Viyella said that power rates have been rising every month in an illegal manner, in contradiction of what is established in Electricity Law 125-01 regarding the matter. According to the foundation, power generation companies have reaped such exaggerated profits that they recovered their initial investment in just two years. The foundation also says that one of the most serious problems affecting the electricity sector is that a small group of companies monopolize the market and the fact that the Superintendence of Power has not fulfilled its legal role, with the purported cash-flow deficit of the distributors as a consequence.