The president of the Commission for the Reform of Government Enterprise, CREP, Antonio Isa Conde called for business organization and civic society groups to support the privatization process and confront those that want the process to be reverted. Despite the flaws, he feels privatization has been a step forward. Isa Conde urged the private electrical companies to undertake more gradual repair programs. The companies have gotten off to a bang, and lines repairs have resulted in 15-20 hour blackouts that are giving privatization a bad name and becoming the best ally of the enemies of privatization, he says. The private companies are repairing the lines in order to reduce their losses, but the long blackouts are irritating the population that had gotten accustomed to very few blackouts in the final days of the CDE management. Likewise, commenting on another major gripe of citizens with the privatization of the state electricity corporation, Isa Conde explained that the hikes in power bills probably can be attributed to irregularities in the computer department. He said that the private companies are using the computer department of the CDE, because they did not have time to install their own computer systems.
