The president of the Santiago Chamber of Commerce, Juan Mera said that the businessmen of the Cibao are urging Edenorte, the region’s power distributor, to stop billing for power outages. He expressed the solidarity of Santiago businessmen to the decision of the Industrial Free Zone of La Vega to return three months billing by Edenorte, a Union Fenosa affiliate. The businessmen are protesting that despite receiving barely three hours of power a day, they are receiving high power bills. He called for a clear and transparent framework for the system and that bills be only for service received. Commenting on the new resistance of La Vega businessmen to pay Edenorte, President-elect Hipólito Mejía said, "Everyone has to pay, put that in your head. Those who does not want to pay Edenorte, such as the people of the La Vega Free Zone, should install their own power plant. Then they can disconnect from Edenorte and not have problems."
