While there were several interesting articles on the crisis affecting the energy sector, none of the numbers published made much sense. For example, in El Caribe, the private sector supposedly affirmed that the government had earmarked US$2.873 billion per month for subsidies. The writer says next, however, that the government only needed US$7.7 million per month for the subsidy. There was some hard news in that the private sector presented incoming President Leonel Fernandez with a list of proposals to solve the current electric crisis. As an immediate solution, the private sector said that the UD$25-million deficit between the generators and the distributors must be eliminated. They say the subsidy should only be applied to those people who use 200kWh of energy per month or less, and that the government must find a source for the money needed to pay for this assistance. While speaking about possible loans from the IDB and the World Bank, the private sector also suggested that the national power transmission system be revamped. Another issue that the private sector is looking at is the depoliticization of the electric distributors in order to increase the payment collections. In the short term the private sector would like government support in collecting the debts owed by government institutions and in combating fraud. For the medium term the private sector is encouraging the Fernandez administration to look at two specific aspects to solve the crisis: a public offering to recapitalize the distributors now owned by the government and the privatization of the distributors? administration in order to render them more efficient, reduce losses and better the payment collection. The second idea is to renegotiate the buying and selling of energy.