President Danilo Medina has spoken out in favor of continuing government plans for the construction of two coal-fired power plants with a combined capacity of 674 megawatts. The first of the plants is due to enter into operation in 2017. The government argues that the plants will provide power at a much lower cost, thus forcing power generation companies to reduce the cost of the electricity that they currently sell to Dominican power distributors. The power is sold to the distributors at a higher cost to what the distributors charge their consumers, requiring major subsidies from the central government.
He motivated the entire country to defend their construction, saying that they were important for the sustainability of the public finances.
Medina said the goal is to save 1.7% of GDP that today goes to subsidize power costs.
Answering journalist questions, he said:
“We have to work to reduce the deficit of the CDEEE because 1.7 or 1.8% that is delivered to that sector is a situation difficult to sustain, and thus the importance of the coal nfired plants. There is a conspiracy, but the power plants should be defended if we are to have a sustainability of public finances. And I am not going to receive the benefit of those plants because they enter into operation in 2017.”
Medina defended that for the first time there is a clear objective to work to reduce the electricity subsidy in the Dominican Republic.
Ruben Jimenez Bichara, executive vice president of the Dominican Public Electricity Corporation (CDEEE) said that coal-fired plants were chosen because not until 2020 will low-cost natural gas be able to be sourced from the United States. He said that power generation with natural gas is currently more expensive than with petrol.
See the complete press conference at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHi5E2KdEXY