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Electricity companies taking their Christmas bonuses early
posted on: Nov 8 2011 8:3 by The Reporter. Viewed 641 times.
Customers of three companies electricity distributors (EDES) have been complaining that the past two months they have received bills with up to 34 days of billing, which blatantly violates law 125-01 and its rules of procedure which specifies that bills can only cover between 26 and 31 days.
The Dominican Corporation of State electric companies (CDEEE) has apologized to customers and excused the companies involved, Edenorte, Edesur and Edeeste, saying that they have developed an interim process of reorganizing the customer meter-reading routes and, consequently, of the dates of billing and payment.
The extension in the users billing period can add several thousand pesos or more to the bill, as if the quantity of invoiced kilowatts passes 700kWh, through the current scheme, the invoiced kilowatts all get charged at the highest level, which can effectively double the bill!
In a world where bulk-buying produces economies of scale and enables greater discounts, the Dominican Electricity companies have chosen to structure things exactly the opposite. Electricity users are penalized for using electricity. The more they use, the rates they pay go up.
Electricity tariffs start at around 4.44 pesos per kWh, but increase to more than 10 pesos per kWh when consumption goes above 700kWh. Not only to the rates go up, but users are forced to pay the higher rate retroactively on every single unit they consumed, which can mean for the unfortunate customer, that using just one more kWh in that billing period could double their bill. It's not difficult to see that lengthening of the billing period can provide big dividends for electricity companies.
The CDEEE explained in a statement that the objective of this initiative is to improve customer service, establishing different billing periods to allow the decongestion of offices and streamlining of procedures for contracts, payments and claims for over-billing.
Also, according to the CDEEE, the electricity meters are read throughout the month, but not in the last three or four days of the month, which decrease errors ,if any.
The CDEEE guaranteed, according to the instructions of Vice President Celso Marranzini, that subscribers affected by improper billing during this process over-invoicing will receive due attention, processing of claims and rapid response, as well as payment facilities and implementation of appropriations in the cases where errors are determined to have occurred attributable to the distributors.
"On behalf of the three distribution companies Edenorte, Edesur and Edeeste, and the CDEEE, we publicly apologize for the inconvenience caused to our customers," said Marranzini.
"We will strictly comply with the General Law of electricity (125-01) and its rules of application (186-07) ", he continued.
So, in a nutshell, if you have been forced to pay EdeNorte a Christmas bonus of several thousand pesos due to your billing period being artificially extended, the law says you are entitled to claim it back, and the CDEEE says they will honor the law.
Law 125-1 establishes the rules
The current electricity regulation establishes in article 489 that: "If by force majeure the billing period exceeds thirty-one (31) days, the distribution company must concede at the request of the customer, an agreement of payment for the invoice, without any type of charges for arrears or financing charges."
As Vice President of the CDEEE, Celso Marranzini reiterated that the intention of the distributors has been the improve the quality of the service to the client, but never to cause inconvenience to the users who they respect and appreciate.
The CDEEE reaffirmed its commitment pursuant to the strict enforcement of the electricity regulations.
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Dishonest b@#$tards!
Thankfully, it didn't push us over the 700 limit.
Where are all the loose bare wires, and wads of old electrical tape holding everything together?
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