The First Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) ruled that the electricity distribution companies (EDEs) have 48 hours to respond to complaints or risk being held responsible for damages.
Justices Pilar Jiménez Ortiz, Justiniano Montero Montero, Samuel Arias Arzeno, Vanessa Acosta Peralta and Napoleón Estévez Lavandier, decided this way a claim for damages presented against the government-owned utility, Distribuidora de Electricidad del Sur (Edesur). The judgement is No. SCJ-PS-22-1449 dated April 29, 2022.
The ruling refers to Article 431, second paragraph, of the General Electricity Law No. 125-01, and its implementing regulations, which provides that: “if the distribution company does not act within a period not exceeding 48 hours, from the time when the communication of irregularities was made, any damage occurred to the facilities and electrical appliances of the customer or user holder, will engage the responsibility of the power distribution company.”
“In this regard, this Court of Cassation verifies that the appeal proved that the appellee had notified the distribution company of the irregularity in the power supply and the damages caused to the equipment owned by the appellant through claim no. 102514, dated 4 August 2017, and that the latter did not issue any response regarding said request; from which it is inferred that, since the appellate court used the referred document as a basis evidentiary element to confirm the first degree decision and retain liability against Edesur, it did so validly within the framework of applicability of Article 431 of the General Electricity Law No. 125-01”, the judgment states.
The First Chamber of the SCJ rejected Edesur’s cassation appeal and confirmed civil judgment No.0105-2018-SCIV-00329, of the First Chamber of the Civil and Commercial and Labor Chamber of the Court of First Instance of Barahona, ratified by the appellate court, which condemned that company to pay RD$300,000.00 for the damages.
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Consulta Global
28 June 2022