El Siglo newspaper points out today that the Dominican Electricity Corporation, the government power utility, got a bad deal when it signed contracts with private companies (AES Distribuidora and Unión Fenosa) for the distribution of power. The contract obliges the CDE to pay for the counters that the new companies will install. The counters are estimated to cost RD$100 million. The situation for the state will improve once the "Organismo Coordinador" is created and the counters are installed. Moreover, the government power utility is obliged to sell power to the distributors for much less than it buys it from the private generators. The CDE purchases power from private generators from more than US$0.07 the kilowatt/hour. It must sell it to the private companies for distribution in the capital city at US$0.063 cents and US$0.65 cents in the interior. The same contract establishes annual reductions in the sales price, down to US$0.05 by 2003.
