CDEEE to target electricity theft

posted on: Mar 30 2010 9:27 by Royston. Viewed 295 times.


The Dominican Corporation of State Electrical Companies (CDEEE) declared a war  on the theft of energy and will put pressure on distribution companies to suspend service, without discrimination, for those who fail to pay for their electricity.

In addition, the CDEEE called for more co-operation from the Superintendent of Electricity who, they claim, lets fraud go unpunished under arguments that are not justifiable from a legal standpoint.

The position was expressed by the CDEEE executive vice president, Celso Marranzini, who complained that cases of fraud wiped out by the regulator in the electricity sector represent millions of dollars in losses for electricity distribution companies.

"We lose a lot of money every month and the country can not continue throwing billions of pesos  into a black hole," said Marranzini. One goal of the stand-by agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to reduce losses in the electricity distribution companies, so as a priority Marranzini wants to attack power theft.

The official was speaking about a meeting held on Thursday at the Attorney General's Office with  Radhames Jimenez where they agreed a strategic alliance to fight the theft of electricity.

"It's good that the Government has to subsidize sectors which cannot recover costs such as education, health, roads, improving the quality of life for Dominicans,” said Marranzini, who said that non-payment of energy costs the state US$1,000 million annually.

Marranzini was accompanied on his visit by Moses Jimenez Ferrer, Deputy Attorney for electric fraud, Guillermo Sterling, legal director and Mirna Lorenzo, It was hoped that the Superintendent of Electricity, Francisco Mendez, would attend but apparently he failed to appear.

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