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Tuesday, February 8 7:47 AM SGT

Widespread blackouts leave Dominican president scrambling to boost power

SANTO DOMINGO, Feb 7 (AFP) - After weeks of widespread blackouts across the Dominican Republic, President Leonel Fernandez met Monday with the heads of power companies to try to end the crisis over the power supply and rising electric bills.

The meeting at the presidential palace comes as many Dominicans are paying twice as much for electricity, despite the blackouts both here in the capital and in rural parts of the country that have lasted up to 20 hours at a time.

Dominicans have experienced regular blackouts since the 1980s, but the latest wave came after the Dominican Electric Corporation (CDE) was privatized last year.

Fernandez sold the public on the privatization plan as a way to boost the power supply while lowering costs and eliminating expensive government subsidies to the power companies.

Those benefits have failed to materialize, and the head of the electric company has said he cannot tell when the crisis may end.

Radhames Segura said Friday that so many generators were not running that the power supply has dwindled during the last few weeks. But different private companies -- mostly foreign -- that own the the generators said they had to shut the generators down because CDE wasn't paying them.

Businesses and labor unions have begun demanding solutions from the government, and warned that prices will begin rising or the electric bills will go unpaid if the electric costs don't fall.

The Dominican Association of Rice Factories warned that skyrocketing electric bills will begin affecting production, which could affect the supply of a staple in many Dominicans' diets.

While rice companies had paid about 2,000 dollars a month for electricity, now the bills have risen to between 5,000 and 7,000 dollars a month, said Miguel de Moya, a spokesman for the association.

"The energy factor is becoming a heavy weight dragging on rice producers," de Moya said.

The Dominican Business Federation also warned about the risks rising energy costs, saying companies might stop paying their bills.

Ironworks companies said they would have to begin hiking the prices for their products, just to keep up with their booming electric bills.

On Sunday, Roman Catholic Cardinal Nicolas de Jesus Lopez Rodriguez demanded an explanation from the government for the power outages.

Fernandez had promised the government would pick up most of the increase in energy prices, after the newly private generators decided to hike their prices 51 percent. The government said it would absorb 42 percent, leaving customers with an additional nine percent to pay.

But the electric companies say the government owes them 6.5 million dollars in arrears. And at current prices, the government will owe an additional five million dollars every month to meet its obligations under the subsidy plan.

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-- Dee (T1Colt556@aol.com), February 07, 2000

Answers

Wasm't Scotty of the starship Enterprise always scrambling to boost power also?

-- Rich (rubeliever@webtv.net), February 07, 2000.

Another Victim of Privatisation???

-- Pennyless ($$$@$$$.$$$), February 07, 2000.

In the long run, maybe we'll start emphasizing solar and wind power.

-- Guy Daley (guydaley@bwn.net), February 07, 2000.