The Corporación Dominicana de Electricidad, the state electricity utility, announced a price cut of 10% in electricity billing of commercial, residential and industrial users. Several sectors had complained of the abusive 50%+ increases in billings. The CDE has attributed the increases in the billing to the devaluation of the peso and to the increased power supplied. Those affected say that the CDE is resorting to the usual practice of increasing the bills of those that pay instead of going after the thousands of users that do not pay for electricity consumed. The CDE has placed on-line turbogas generators that are expensive to operate, and thus needs additional resources. It is estimated that 50% of consumers do not pay for the electricity, which has to be subsidized by the state. Note that government offices, nor city municipalities (city streets) do not pay for electricity. The central government pays the CDE about RD$250 million a month in subsidies.
