Engineers Amilcar Romero, administrator of the Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad (CDE) and Temístocles Montás, a renowned energy expert, and a member of the transition team from the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana (PLD), have agreed on the importance of Congress passing the Ley General de Electricidad, the bill that would provide the legal framework for the privatizing of several electricity services.
Mr Montás met with Amilcar Romero last week as part of the passing of command to coordinate matters relating to the state utility on behalf of the new Fernández government.
Interviewed by El Caribe newspaper afterwards, Mr Romero said that the new bill guarantees the investment of domestic and foreign capital in distribution and marketing of electricity, including the collection of sales revenue. Mr Montás emphasized that the new government sees as its biggest challenge the charging and collecting on a large scale for electricity consumption. At present, there are large sectors that do not pay for their power, including government and low income sectors. It is estimated that only 45% of the consumption is revenue earning. As a result of the lack of payment, the government has to subsidize the CDE with more than RD$125 million a month.