Today, local newspapers published Decree 400-2001, dated 20 March, by which President Hipolito Mejia orders that each government department be responsible for paying its power consumption. The President orders them to make payments directly to the power distributors, Edeeste, Edenorte and Edesur. It authorizes the distributors to discontinue service to any department that does not make its payments as per contractual obligations. The President says that the distributors will no longer be able to discount the cost of the power consumed by government offices from payments they must make to the state electricity corporation, CDE. The decree ends the RD$200 million subsidy the central government paid on behalf of its departments. In a strange paternalistic item contained in the decree, the President instructs public institutions to make sure that all their employees regularly pay for their personal home power consumption, subject to disciplinary measures.
