AES-Corporation, the parent company of tormented AES-Dominicana and AES-Andres, has reported a 14% increase in sales in the second quarter of this year. In a press release sent to the local newspapers, AES said their profits have climbed 20%, from US$539 million to US$648 million. And so, on the local scene, the Trust Company of the West (TCW) has begun negotiations that could lead to the purchase of the AES properties and contracts in the Dominican Republic. AES-Dominicana was put on the selling block last February by AES Corporation. According to Bredyg A Disla from the Listin Diario, the AES public relations person would not confirm or deny the news. Claudia Fernandez limited her comments to admitting that the company was for sale and that three offers were being considered. A reliable source told Disla that TCW was trying to acquire all AES properties but leave the day-to-day operations in the hands of the current management team. The well-known conflict between the government and AES-Dominicana is the reason that the generator is, according to the CDEEE, RD$458.3 million in debt to Ede-Este, the distribution branch of AES-Dominicana. With sub-stations, rural electrification, public lighting and the ?un-disconnectable? governmental institution accounts under dispute, a quick solution has not been forthcoming. Miguel San Pablo, the AES group superintendent, claimed last April that the government owed Ede-Este RD$1 billion in subsidies alone. Today?s Diario Libre carries the fight a bit further with the report that says AES is the principle cause for the blackouts. With the entry of Itabo II and its 116 MW of power to the national grid, the power supply was meeting just a little over half of the demand. The report accuses AES, with its 500 MW of potential energy, of being one of the prime causes of the prolonged lack of service. CDEEE General Administrator Cesar Sanchez said that the incoming government will have to solve the ?barbarous problem of AES.? Francisco Mendez, the PLD energy representative during the transition period, told reporters that the next government will have to get AES to comply with Law 125-01 (the General Law on Electricity). Antonio Almonte, the director of the National Energy Commission CNE, pointed out that AES is an example how vertical integration has failed to solve the energy sector?s crisis.