The Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales (Cdeee) received in the first three months of the year RD$8,273.3 million in current transfers, resources destined mainly for the payment of the electricity subsidy.
Between January and March 2021, the revenues sent to the Cdeee meant 14.6% of the current transfers made by the Government in that period, only surpassed by those made to the National Health Service (RD$12,559.7 million) and to the “Eating is First” program (RD$11,294.5 million).
The information is contained in the “Informe de ejecución presupuestaria enero-marzo 2021”, which was prepared by the Dirección General de Presupuesto (Digepres).
Performance to reduce subsidies
Recently, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Antonio Almonte, stated that in order to eliminate the electricity subsidy it is first necessary to improve the performance of the electricity distribution companies (EDE) by reducing expenses, eliminating losses and increasing collections.
The average loss level of the EDEs increased by 6.7 percentage points during the first quarter of this year, compared to the same period in 2020, according to Cdeee statistics.
From having a loss level of 27.5% in the January-March quarter of last year, the figure went to 34.2% in the same period of 2021, an increase that began after the impact of the coronavirus pandemic in the country.
Edeeste is the company with the worst performance during the referred period by increasing its loss level from 40.9 % to 51.6 %, equivalent to an increase of 10.7 percentage points.
Losses and collections
This was followed by Edesur, whose losses increased by five percentage points, going from 21.2 % in January-March 2020 to 26.2 % in the same period of this year.
The administrator of Edesur, Milton Morrison, explained several weeks ago that the increase in the losses registered by the company in the first quarter was due to the increase in the energy supply to sectors that do not pay for the service.
Meanwhile, Edenorte’s loss level rose by 3.4 percentage points, increasing from 19.8% to 23.2%, according to data from the Corporación Dominicana de Empresas Eléctricas Estatales.
Likewise, the average collection level of the three electricity distribution companies fell from 96.5% recorded between January and March 2020 to 94.9% this year, a reduction of 1.7 percentage points.
