Itabo and Ede-Este are going to court in separate trials for excessive expenditures in the rehabilitation of two units and for non-payment of debts and violation of the payment schedule that had been agreed upon.
A source gave El Caribe a document that showed that the repairs to Itabo units I and II carried US$15.7 million in ?excessive expenditures? as well as ?delays that affected the monies that had been budgeted.? In May of 2003, the budget to repair the units jumped to US$112.5 million ? US$31.9 million more than the US$80.6 million approved by the Administration Board in 2002. The ?anomalies? were found by the external auditing firm of Stone and Webster Management Consultants. The consultants said that the excessive expenditures were found in the repairs to the pre-heaters and burners in Unit I, and in the repair of the control center, project management controls and labor costs, among other things. The document points out that Itabo lacked any procedures to guarantee quality control, saying, ?It is not clear how the management group for the Repair Project could administer the contracts effectively without any previous inspection.? In the case of Ede-Este, Ege-Haina is suing them for non-payment and for violating the payment schedule worked out in the document that recognized the debts. El Caribe has a copy of this notarized agreement that was worked out on 6 July and describes how Ede-Este was to pay the 19 overdue invoices for energy purchased from Ege-Haina, with a 2% charge for exports, established by presidential decree, plus other charges for connection fees and spot-market purchases. The note says: ?Due to the non-fulfillment of payment, total and complete, of US$97.8 million, we demand full payment?without the need to obtain a legal decree or a judge?s order.? Haina alleges that Ede-Este has only paid US$3.4 million of the debt, and they have notified both the Superintendent of Electricity as well as the CDEEE.
Meanwhile, the supply of electricity has fallen once more with the departure of Cogentrix? Unit I that had been supplying 94 MW of energy to the nationwide system. This raised the energy deficit to over 660 MW. The national energy grid is being supplied by Ege-Haina with 156 MW (256 MW during peak hours), Monte Rio with 94.7 MW, Metaldon with 40.5 MW, Estrlla del Mar and Estrella del Norte (Seaboard), which produce 72 and 37 MW respectively, Simth-Enron with 104, Palamera with 50 MW, La Vega with 54 MW and CEPP (Puerto Plata Electric Company) Unit II with 20 MW to round out the production. CEPP I and Cogentrix I, down due to internal problems, and Cogentrix II and III, for external problems, along with AES Andres, are the major units off-line for economic reasons.