During the penultimate quarter of 2024, the Office of Protection to the Consumer of Electricity (Protecom) ruled in favor of the users 26.2% of the 26,545 claims received from clients who filed complaints against the Distribution Companies of Electricity (EDE). However, the institution accumulates 75,002 cases pending review.
Free Diary had access to one of the resolutions most recent, in which Protecom favored a residential client with solar panelswho had received five consecutive invoices with errors in the calculation. The entity ordered the distributor Costasur to reimburse 448,218 pesos after verifying that there was an alteration in the methodology of collection.
The error, according to the official document, was due to the fact that the company used a net billing strategy instead of net metering to charge for the energy consumed by the customer of the electrical system versus the price applied to the energy injected from the solar panels of the user.
In this context, Protecom identified that the distributor did not comply with the specifications established in article 11 of the regulation net metering, the only regulation that regulates the operations of the electrical system in the cases of people who produce their own energy and, in addition, inject the surplus into the system.
The Dominican Association of Isolated Electrical Systems (Adosea) explained to Free Diary how the system worksbarter” of electrical service for customers with panels. According to Adosea, these users Both the energy consumed from the network and the surplus that they generate and inject into it are calculated. Subsequently, a balance is made: the amount consumed is subtracted from the energy injected, and the client pays only based on said balance.
RD$94
million was the amount credited to users who claimed between 2020-2023, according to
However, the association noted that, in most cases, this calculation tends to favor the user. When the injected surplus exceeds the energy consumed, the distributor must compensate the client by paying the same price for that energy as it charges for consumption. Additionally, the values of that surplus are accumulated for subsequent billing calculations.
Of the 26,545 claims filed between July and September of this year, 14,149 were against the Distribution Company Eastern Energy (Edeeste). Of these, only 0.24% resulted in favor of the user.
Yesterday, the president of the Unified Council of the Distribution Companies Electricity (CUED), Celso Marranzini, explained that the population must assume its commitment to paying their bills, but acknowledged that there were previously flaws in the system.
Regarding the case that went viral through social networks, in which a single mother received a bill of over 30,000 pesos, Marranzini pointed out that Edenorte investigated the case, highlighting that the lady had a beauty salon with various equipment high electrical consumption.
Millions accredited
The Superintendence of Electricity (SIE), through the offices of Protecomordered to credit 28,716,574.23 pesos to users who claimed disagreements related to the electrical service, of which more than 80% corresponded to high billing cases.
The information is contained in the 2023 institutional memory of the SIE, which details that during the 2020-2023 period, 175,857 were served. claimsof which 64,669 were approved in favor of the user and 111,188 were inadmissible.
As a result of these decisions, the distributors were ordered to credit a total of 93,786,478.34 pesos to the affected people who processed their complaints.
