What is the real problem about electricity supply in DR?

[Rafael Rothschild]

OK, great information, but here are additional questions:

1.-What's the percentage of energy being stolen?

2.-Is this percentge of stolen energy what's causing overloads in the main
electric feeding lines, which then, in turn, causes the outages?

I would assume the power companies know for sure the total consumption of Kilowatts per hour, day, month, or whatever.
Let's also assume that the theft amounts to (let's say 20%-30%) of the output. This means that the power companies get paid for only 70% to 80%
of their services. Is this the problem?

Then, I guess that the cost of this stolen energy , is charged to paying customers by the power companies, who increase prices proportionally.
This however should be very easy to know and control by these companies,
and thereby provide the correct amount of energy, taking into account the percentage of theft. I realize that there are no meters to detect the individual theft, case by case, but I'm sure these companies can and should know the amount of the total demand.

Makes sense?

I'm getting a little confused myself. LOL.

Any experts or electrical engineers, please?

[Hillbilly]

Originally Posted by Rafael Rothschild

OK, great information, but here are additional questions:

1.-What's the percentage of energy being stolen?Some good estimates put the number at around 15-20% of production--and it might be more

2.-Is this percentge of stolen energy what's causing overloads in the main
electric feeding lines, which then, in turn, causes the outages? Old transmission lines are a major problem. Experts have estimated that as much as 30% of production is lost in transmission...No, I am not kidding.

I would assume the power companies know for sure the total consumption of Kilowatts per hour, day, month, or whatever.
Let's also assume that the theft amounts to (let's say 20%-30%) of the output. This means that the power companies get paid for only 70% to 80%
of their services. Is this the problem?

Then, I guess that the cost of this stolen energy , is charged to paying customers by the power companies,EXACTLY, that is why we pay three or four times what customers in Central American pay for electricity. We are currently paying about 24¢ a kilowat/hour for electricity. who increase prices proportionally.
This however should be very easy to know and control by these companies,
and thereby provide the correct amount of energy, taking into account the percentage of theft. I realize that there are no meters to detect the individual theft, case by case, but I'm sure these companies can and should know the amount of the total demand.

Makes sense? No, but we live with it.

I'm getting a little confused myself. LOL.Welcome to the world of the DR!!!

Any experts or electrical engineers, please?Read Luis Arthurs's column inthe El caribe each week....he is a major EE and expert in electricity generation and transmission.

Those are just a few of the realities..

HB

[planner]

The figure I read was over 40% of electricity being "stolen". This included the amounts "forgiven" to high ranking military, police, political, government and business people. It isn't just about the poor stealing electricity out of need or expectation but those with "power" abusing their abilities.

[Dolores]

Isn't it strange that the government has rejected installing pre paid systems in the style of the pre paid telephone cards that has enabled even the poor to own cell phones? There is big money in the present chaos and that is what people refer to with the lack of political will to do things right, which means reducing the profiteering of persons with influence.

[Rafael Rothschild]

Thank you Hillbilly.

[A.Hidalgo]

Originally Posted by gamana

some countries seize production facilities and distribution network from foreign entities in the name of protecting natioanl interest. It might happen here one day if a solution is not found.....

I don't know where the government would find the money to revamp the system though as dominicans would still not pay for it.

as a step towards improving the situation, maybe the goverment should revisit the law in tax exemption for tourist projects. Foreign entities should get additional years of tax exemption, if they build their facitilites with off grid solar systems. The coastline mega resorts are the Kwatt guzzlers of DR.

Very reasonable proposal, but can you tell us the sources for the "coastline mega resorts are the Kwatt guzzlers of the DR".

[cobraboy]

Find ANY successful business that has 20-40% "shrinkage" or theft.

Then in that teeny tiny list, find how many of those businesses invest MORE in themselves.

Aren't the electric companies subsidized somewhat by the gubermint?

[cobraboy]

Originally Posted by A.Hidalgo

Very reasonable proposal, but can you tell us the sources for the "coastline mega resorts are the Kwatt guzzlers of the DR".

I know several resorts that generate their own power.

[vince1956]

http://www.dominicantoday.com/app/article.aspx?id=21420

[Rick Snyder]

Rafael,

You bring up an interesting subject and if I may I would like to help explain the situation to you. A lot of the posters are correct in what they say but it goes much deeper than that.

I keep hearing that the problem within the electricity sector is that people are not paying their bills. Though this may in fact be a part of the problem it is not the only problem.

It should be pointed out that the DR has 49 power generating plants. Here is a slightly dated report that should help you in understanding the electrical generating system here.

A big problem, as I see it, is the Madrid Agreement (AdeM) which I have determined was signed by LF in 1999 and was due to end in 2004. This seems to have been a contract between the government and the IPP’s, who were owned by the Spanish company Union Fenosa, for the production of electricity. The Dominican government has been unable to pay the entire bill to date. In 2002 the Mejía administration extended the (AdeM) to a period from 5 to 15 years and I think there were additional monies paid for this new contract plus the additional interest that Union Fenosa would draw from this extension. In 2003 the Dominican government took control of the electric distributors, Edenorte and Edesur by purchasing them from Union Fenosa and the deal was worth US$362.5 million. They also bought Distribucion del Este, which is half-owned by the government and managed by U.S. firm AES. The first payment of US$15 million was paid at the end of September 2003 and the balance was to be paid over 12 years. The purchase was not sanctioned by the IMF, with which the Dominican Republic secured a standby loan of US$600 million, and the IMF deal was put on hold. At the time of this deal there was a large outcry from many sectors of the DR as to where the money for this purchase would come from. I might add that Mejía was known to be the ‘hooo’ of the company Union Fenosa as he had allowed them to do a number of things that were against the electrical laws and some broad deals on new power plants to be built which were questioned as to their legality.

As stated in a report produced by the US Department of State in 2005, “The GODR has not entirely resolved arrears owed to several independent power producers (IPPs) in connection with the partial privatization of the energy sector and faces additional difficulty meeting payment obligations in the short term. This has contributed to cash flow and credit problems for the IPPs and widespread sporadic blackouts. While the GODR has made some partial payments, significant arrears remain outstanding and are a cause of ongoing concern. The 2002 "Madrid Agreement" between the government and most IPPS stipulated that participating IPPs would lower electricity tariffs, if the government made a large one-time payment. The government has not been able to secure financing to put this change into effect. The "Madrid Agreement", which was to be funded with US$ 150 million in World Bank funds, was put on hold once the IMF suspended its stand-by agreement with the Dominican Government in early 2004. The Dominican Government has developed with the assistance of the World Bank, the Inter-American Development Bank and USAID a comprehensive plan to stabilize the energy sector by the end of 2005, envisaging some electricity rationing, improving collections, better targeting of subsidies, improving regulation of the sector, achieving greater efficiencies, and rolling over arrears.”

Of the 49 power generation plants that are located in the DR over 50 % of them are always out of operation on any given day. The usual excuse give is that they are unable to purchase fuel or they are down for maintenance or just ‘broken’. If memory serves me correctly I seem to remember there are two power plants that were built a few years ago, (Union Fenosa?), that were supposedly completed and to date have never generated any electricity but get paid monthly for a portion of the electricity that they are supposed to supply, (AdeM).

Put this all together and maybe you can better understand the situation here as it pertains to electricity.

Rick