Santo Domingo. – President Luis Abinader led the presentation of the plan that seeks to streamline the operations of electricity distributors in the country, in which the measures to be implemented to reduce losses within a period of three years were announced.
The explanation was given by the president of the Unified Council of Electricity Distribution Companies (CUED), Celso Marranzini, who began by talking about the unprecedented growth in energy demand in distributors.
Edenorte
At Edenorte, the growth of energy delivered was 5% in 2020, 8% in 2021, 3% in 2022 and 10% in 2023, while peak demand grew 6% in 2020, 10% in 2021, 9% in 2022, 17% in 2023 and 2% by July 2024.
Edesur
The growth of energy delivered by Edesur was 2% in 2020, 5% in 2021, 2% in 2022, 14% in 2023 and 7% until July 2024, as for peak demand, it grew by 0.2% in 2020, 3% in 2021 and 2022, 15% in 2023 and 3% until July 2024.
East
Edeeste recorded a growth in delivered energy of 4% in 2020, 6% in 2021, 2% in 2022 and 11% in 2023. Peak demand grew 10% in 2020, 6% in 2021, 4% in 2022, 11% in 2023 and 3% by July 2024.
Overload
Because of this, Marranzini added, distribution networks operate in overload since energy flows exceed the capacity of the networks during peak consumption hours, in addition to the fact that protection systems take equipment and/or circuits out of service and frequent breakdowns cause additional interruptions.
To counteract this situation, the necessary investments are being made to replace equipment and expand distribution networks, a measure that is essential according to the director of the UASD Energy Institute, José Luis Moreno San Juan.
He also said that network overload has increased even in 24-hour circuits.
Power transformers in overload
In Edenorte, 7 transformers are recorded as overloaded out of a total of 72, for 9.72%; in Edesur there are 25 out of a total of 59, reaching 42.37%, while Edeste has the highest percentage, with 44.62%, with 29 power transformers overloaded out of the 65 it has.
Illegal connections
Illegal connections oversize the supply to the load transformers, causing frequent service interruptions due to breakdowns.
Celso Marranzini reported that there are currently more than 800 thousand users connected illegally who are neither billed nor charged.
Reducing energy loss
Currently, all provinces in the national territory register energy losses (GWH per month) every month, thus establishing the challenge for 2027 of reducing them in the three distributors.
The goal is to bring Edenorte and Edesur to around 20% energy loss, and Edeeste to 40%, for which we seek to improve management in areas that have adequate networks, invest in networks in places that require it and pursue fraud in high-consumption customers.
Support from multilateral banks to finance investments
It was explained that US$650 million has been allocated, at concessional rates, to improve modern networks and systems for commercial management and loss control. The IDB has supported EDESUR with US$155 million, OFID with US$120 million and JICA with US$36 million for public lighting.
The IDB also provided US$39 million for public lighting, CAF provided US$75 million for network rehabilitation, and the World Bank provided US$255 million for network rehabilitation and commercial and measurement management systems.
Estimated financial deficit in 2024
There was a deficit of US$40 million in the municipalities and aqueducts, US$800 million in state subsidies to clients and US$610 million in the EDES.
Short-term strategies
Administrative
Administratively, the aim is to audit and prepare monthly financial and operational statements to be presented to the CUED, the electrical cabinet and the CES. Also, to prepare a budget for the Annual Purchase Plan (PAC) and the Annual Operating Plan (POA), and to update accounts payable to suppliers. Work is also being done on monthly statements to be presented to the council, both financial and operational, and annual audited statements.
Operational
As for short-term operational strategies, massive purchases of distribution transformers and meters were listed to eliminate direct connections and replace damaged meters.
In this same sense, purchase of power transformers, massive purchase of circuit breakers (ITC) to isolate circuits during maintenance, take joint actions between the EDES to achieve an economy of scale and do load balances to determine energy requests in circuits.
Likewise, improving and expanding remote measurement to large clients, extending the scope of micro measurement of energy balances to reduce losses, improving the requirements and supervision of contractors, increasing the standardization of supplies with irregularities (fraud), as well as increasing inspections to ensure the energy delivered to large clients.
The strategies also seek to improve response times for service requests and breakdowns, so that they do not take more than 30 minutes. Improve customer service in commercial offices, install payment equipment in accessible places such as shopping malls, subway stations, cable cars and bring mobile payment offices to hard-to-reach places.
Institutional strengthening
Regarding short-term strategies for institutional strengthening, a board of directors made up of competent people with knowledge in the areas of finance, electricity and law was mentioned, as well as the hiring of managers and directors with proven capabilities. Also mentioned was the hiring of internal audit teams independent of the general managers and the preparation of the purchasing and contracting manual in accordance with the regulations of the Purchasing and Contracting Directorate.
Transparency
Finally, the proposal was to present the monthly results of the distributors (operational and financial statements) to the population and to create a portal so that customers could learn about the conditions of their circuit and the details of maintenance.
