Last week, the president of the Unified Council of Electricity Distribution Companies (CUED), Celso Marranzini, made statements regarding the Dominican electrical system and warned citizens of possible and continuous rounds of blackouts, alleging excessive demand, especially at night, due to the heat wave affecting the country.
In fact, there have been protests in some places, specifically in rejection of the interruptions in the service, as well as the high rates that the distribution companies (Edes) issue to users.
This warning from Marranzini is like getting ahead of the events and calming any outbreak of protest that could lead to a bigger crisis or deterioration in the electricity service.
The population was not used to tedious blackouts and at this point, going back to the same thing could cause discontent among those who suffer from them. Because what irritates a human being the most is a blackout at night, especially in the middle of summer, when temperatures are very high. Everyone’s mood changes.
Despite the efforts that have been made and perhaps even good intentions on the part of the governments we have had in the last 50 years to minimize or end the classic blackouts, the Dominican electrical system is in a nosedive and the excuses to justify the poor service are always the same.
Previously, blackouts were attributed to kites that flew and got caught in power lines or cables, then to crises and conflicts between generators, to an increase in demand due to population growth and more recently to climate change and the heat wave affecting many countries in the area, including the famous Sahara dust.
This year, temperatures were predicted to be very high and would exceed those of 2023, which was considered the hottest year of all time. However, everything seems to indicate that we are not preparing, because we continue to suffer from the same problems related to energy generation.
Celso Marranzini also said that the system is not prepared for the demand, so when will it be ready to provide a quality service and reduce blackouts to zero? How much money are we going to continue wasting to solve the problem, which entails great economic losses for the country?
Currently, the demand for electricity recently exceeded 80 gigawatt-hours, equivalent to 3,662.27 MW, according to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, and a subsidy of around 1.5 billion dollars, according to information provided by Celso Marranzini.
For as long as I can remember, I have been hearing the same thing about finding a solution to the electricity issue. There is talk of implementing a comprehensive plan to improve and make the service more efficient, of having more transparency in management, a payment system that works and combats fraud, better infrastructure…however, we always fall into the same circle.
