The Senate passed the second reading of the Electricity Bill. The Bill had been in the Senate for seven years. It was sent to Congress during the last Balaguer administration and stalled there due to the many interest groups involved. The bill would regulate the operations of distribution companies and the power generators. It also creates a new enterprise, the CDEEE, or Corporación Dominicana de Empresa Electrica Estatal, which will encompass the government’s 50% share in the distributors and generators, plus the hydroelectric and electricity transmission operations. The bill was passed by 17 senators during yesterday’s session. It now passes on to the Chamber of Deputies for study. The Senators also voted to extend the contract of the private distributors from 10 years to 17 years, despite general complaints about the service delivered by these companies.
