Energy magnate Celso Marranzini of the Consejo Unificado de las Empresas Distribuidoras (CUED) is predicting several months of technical blackouts for many clients. He says summer has exacerbated the demand for power.
In a recent statement, Marranzini urged the public to exercise patience amidst ongoing electrical maintenance and improvement efforts. He said significant work is underway, including rotating substations and integrating new ones, which inevitably results in service interruptions. “The public needs to understand that these interruptions are necessary,” he said.
The president of the CUED reported that between 8pm and 1am, power systems are generating 4,000 megawatts, a level he describes as unprecedented.
To provide 100% of the demand for energy is “impossible,” concurs electricity sector specialist Jose Luis Moreno San Juan, without first improving the system. At one point the goal for the energy sector was to provide 97% of the demand for electricity by 2026, however, for the past four years the system has been delivering that 97% and at some moments even 99% of demand.
Energy expert Jose Luis Moreno San Juan says that the programmed blackouts are to give time to improve the transmission lines.
There are, according to both Marranzini and Moreno San Juan, at least three areas that just have to be improved. One is the transmission of energy from generation to consumer. A second one is the service of electricity to sectors that are not connected to electric meters. This is to say there are entire barrios where people receive power with no electric meters, allowing small to medium industries to locate there to receive power for a very low fixed rate.
The third issue is simply fraud or energy theft. Moreno San Juan noted that the electricity distributor for the eastern portion of the country, EdeEste, suffers from an enormous loss to non-metered users of around 70% of all losses. Fraud accounts for about 30%, and the expert predicted that to resolve these issues it would take about four years in the case of EdeEste.
Within the electricity sector, the Dominican Association of the Electricity Industry (ADIE), has expressed support for the ideas put forward by Celso Marranzini early last week. According to Manuel Cabral Franco, the executive vice-president of ADIE, Marranzini’s proposals for reducing the loss of energy in the transmission system, a better management of the different distributors, and modernizing the basic infrastructure are the key issues to be addressed, and these are heartedly approved by the private sector organization.
Marranzini also addressed recent protests about extended blackouts, noting that service interruptions will be frequent in the coming months. He pointed out that those who protest the most are often the ones who pay the least. “Those who pay the least are usually the most vocal in their complaints,” he remarked.
He stressed the importance of individual responsibility in paying for electrical services. “This issue is not solely a government problem or a problem for distribution companies. It is a national issue that begins with the awareness that payment is necessary,” he concluded.
Marranzini is also cracking down on the wealthy. He says his department will be combatting fraud committed in many high rises where not all the power consumed by the apartments is being registered.
Read more in Spanish:
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Listin Diario
Diario Libre
El Dia
De Ultimo Minuto
Hoy
26 August 2024