Eight-hour blackouts and electricity bill rate increases are back. The Superintendence of Electricity has not issued a statement on what is going on. Recently, president of the Senate, Ramón Alburquerque (PRD-Monte Plata) said he would request that Marcos Cochón of the Superintendence and the president of the Commission for the Reform of Public Enterprise, Antonio Isa Conde come before the Senate to explain the reasons of this new crisis that affects the electricity system. What is known is that the blackouts are a consequence of the low generation of Itabo II, Itabo B, Haina II, Puerto Plata I and II and Los Mina V, while Smith Enron was reported to be generating 50 of the 170 megawatts it has capacity to generate. There was a reported deficit of 300 megawatts over the weekend as production was around 1,200 megawatts with demand at over 1,500 megawatts. Newspapers say that spokesmen for Edenorte, Edesur, AES Distribuidora del Este have not been available for comments. Hoy newspaper says that the increases have been levied on consumers because the private companies have not been able to improve efficiency nor increase their universe of bill-paying clients. As a result, they have resorted to the same tactic the state owned utility, CDE used when it needed more money – increase the bills paid by those who are already paying. El Siglo newspaper article indicates that electric bills will go up 14.6% in January and increases will continue over the next months as the companies pass on to consumers increases in petroleum, inflation and the exchange rate as per communications sent to the Superintendence of Electricity on 31 December. With the presidential election less than four months away, the electricity issue now becomes a campaign issue, and a weak point for government party candidate, Danilo Medina. José Tomás Pérez, secretary general of the Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, says that the electricity problems are technical ones, not political ones. Nevertheless, presidential candidate of the opposing Partido Revolucionario Dominicano, Hipólito Mejía has invited the presidential candidate of the Partido Reformista Social Cristiano, Joaquín Balaguer, to support his proposal that the capitalization of the state owned utility, Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad, come 16 August 2000. Meanwhile, there is a general consensus that privatization has not meant an improvement in the service provided nor for the pockets of local consumers nor even of the government, that has continued to have to subsidize power in the DR, due to being left with the bone while dealing out the meat to the new power distributors.
