Jose Luis Moreno San Juan, the head of the Energy Institute at the UASD university, voiced his position that the removal of the sanctions imposed by the General Electricity Law on non-fulfillment of service has given the companies even less reason to produce electricity. He calls the situation a ?mess? that exists because there is no disadvantage to cutting off electricity. The law clearly establishes the continuity of service and established punishment for noncompliance. According to Moreno San Juan, in no other country does the failure to provide such a basic necessity as electricity go unpunished. In addition, the energy researcher said to Hoy that the country could save as much as US$600 million if the purchase of fuels were more transparent. Assisted by colleagues Pedro Gomez and Socrates Grullon, Moreno San Juan sat in at the Economist Encounter at Hoy newspaper, along with Mario Mendez, the economic editor for the paper. Moreno San Juan revealed that there is much turmoil with regards to the fuel situation and that it was not true that gasoline and other fuel prices could not be fixed on a monthly basis, rather than the week-to-week guessing game that is now going on. He pointed out that the refinery (REFIDOMSA) imports fuels on contracts which are established every 11 months and based on commodity price plus a discount. He said this discount is never passed on to the consumer, however, but is only for the benefit of the private entities. The institute?s chief affirmed that the country is operating on a deficit of US$600 million and with the increasing oil prices the figure could reach US$900 million. He suggested that direct, country-to-country contracts be negotiated to avoid the use of intermediaries and thereby saving 10%-15% on the base price of the fuels.