The three electricity distribution companies (Edeeste, Edesur and Edenorte) are at the center of the debate, after an audit revealed alleged irregularities so far amounting to RD $ 50,000 million, committed in the past government administration.
The resources have been used fraudulently in the last eight years in the purchase of energy meters, materials and construction of projects that aimed to improve electricity service and reduce the losses of the EDEs.
However, despite the amount involved, from 2008 to August 2020 the losses of the distributors only managed to reduce, on average, by seven percentage points, although the opposite occurred in one of the companies, increasing losses by five percentage points .
According to the statistics of the Dominican Corporation of State Electric Companies (Cdeee), the average level of losses of the distributors fell from 34% to 27% during the mentioned period.
“Despite the large investments made in the national electricity sector, specifically with respect to electricity distribution companies, the current plaintiffs and civil actors: the State, Edeeste, Edesur and Edenorte, are seen by the population as the main culprits of the problems afflicting the country’s electricity sector, ”the complaint states.
Between 2014 and 2016, loans for 488 million dollars were signed with various multilateral organizations, of which 57,058,069.76 dollars – 11.7% of the total amount – would have been “embezzled, defrauded and stolen by the criminal association” which, according to the complaint, They made up Rubén Jiménez Bichara, Maxy Montilla Sierra, Luis Ernesto De León Núñez, Correa, Rubén Montás Domínguez and Radhamés del Carmen Maríñez.
However, although in general terms the level of loss of the EDEs was reduced, in the case of the Edeeste it suffered the opposite situation. The company went from losing 37.6% of the electricity it provided in 2012 to 42.6% in August 2020, an increase of five percentage points.
This company was managed by De León Núñez, who is the brother-in-law of former President Danilo Medina and who appears as one of the defendants in the complaint.
In the case of Edesur, its level of loss decreased by 7.7 percentage points between 2012 and August 2020, going from 29.9% to 22.2% in that period, according to Cdeee figures.
Meanwhile, Empresa Distribuidora de Electricidad del Norte was the one with the best performance, in terms of reducing losses. On average, the figure went from 35.2% in 2012 to 20.5% in August of last year, a decrease equivalent to 14.7 percentage points in the period.
The State sued last Tuesday against 14 people, including former administrators of the distributors, the vice president of the Cdeee and businessmen, of course embezzling the EDEs.
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