The Economic and Social Board (CES) had scheduled to sign the Electricity Pact at 11am on Wednesday, 20 February 2019 at the Presidential Palace in a ceremony headed up by President Danilo Medina. But at last minute, the largest opposition political party, the PRM announced it would not sign in the understanding several points were not real solutions to the national electrical problems.
The PRM conditions its signing to compliance with the General Electricity Law 125-01 and that any decree or disposition that violates it must be repealed; perform a restructuring of the CDEEE so that it is ruled by only one board of directors; merge the three power distributors into one; perform the audits to the distributors; make transparent the construction process of Punta Catalina, among other points.
This is the second time the signing is announced and then postponed. In December 2017, after three years of negotiations, Antonio Taveras, who at the time was president of the Association of Industries of Herrera and the province of Santo Domingo (Aneih), refused to sign and went public about several points that he said were unacceptable. Taveras just recently ended his term at Aneih.
The pact outlines a Strategic Business Plan to improve the management of the energy sector from now to 2022 and includes a plan to reduce losses in the distribution to a maximum of 15% over six years, greater sanctions against fraud and the regulation of prices until 2023.
The president of the Dominican Republic Association of Industries (AIRD), Celso Marranzini lamented the suspension. He said the agreement would have been key to reducing the very costly electrical distribution losses.
Others had agreed to sign in the understanding that the CDEEE in the next six months would draft a Comprehensive Plan for the Development of the Electricity Sector 2015-2030, with the policies and actions agreed upon in order to achieve an integral and sustainable development.
Upon agreeing to sign, the executive president of the Dominican Association of Electricity Industry (ADIE), Manuel Cabral had called for the convening of a commission to implement the new agreement. “Now we must act on this agreement because it is unacceptable that inaction after three years of negotiation and a year and a half waiting for the final signatures, will negate all of the efforts of so many. We need the full support of the government so that the pact is fully enacted,” Cabral had said.
The National Development Strategy (END) Law 1-12 ordered the signing of the pact. The electricity agreement should have been signed by 2013, according to Law 1-12. There were difficulties from the start and the discussions would not start until 2014.
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20 February 2019