Edenorte 5.5 hours

Erratum:

Sorry for the mistake, the third line in my last posting should read:

On the Friday the 3rd of March, there was a meeting between the Apc President, Edenorte and a representative of the Mayors office. Below is an extract from the APC President’s report:

Just a quick update concerning the street lights of Costambar and must emphasize that this “power out “problem only concerns electricity to street lights and not to the power supply of our homes which should improve in the next months.

On the Friday the 3rd of March, the Apc President, Edenorte and a representative of the Mayors office.
Below is an extract from the APC President’s report:

“It was a very cordial meeting. The issue is rather simple. As I explained in my last e-mail, the City receives 3% of the total amount of money paid by users of electricity within the municipality. In return, the City reimburses EDENORTE for the electricity consumed in lighting public streets. It became clear during the meeting that the City was not reimbursing to EDENORTE for the street lights in Costambar, on the presumption that Costambar is a private project. I noted that it was unfair for the City to collect the 3% from Costambar, but refuse to reimburse EDENORTE for electricity used in lighting Costambar streets. And I made it rather clear to both EDENORTE and the Mayor's representative that APC had neither the means nor the inclination to pay for the consumption of electricity in lighting the streets of Costambar.

The meeting ended on a very positive note. The suspension of electricity to the streets lights of Costambar was halted pending the outcome of further contacts between the parties next week. I am confident that an amicable solution will be reached.”

Hi MarLou, I appreciate your concern, I know that there was a “positive” meeting with a representative of Walter Musa and Edenorte. I do not have the details yet but as soon as I do I will pass them on.
As this seems to be a political decision made by the Puerta Plata authorities, I think that the whole of Costambar should treat the matter with diplomacy and a great deal of discretion, so as not to adversely affect tourism in Costambar.

This Ayuntamiento / Edenorte problem will be the first point of discussion at Mondays board meeting and I will have more news after this.

In the meantime, if the lights do go out, we will all do as we do every second day when there is no Edenorte electricity, stay calm and use our inverters.

Please be assured that the APC board is taking this matter very seriously.

Stanley

Any further news?

Are the streetlights staying on?

As a primarily night-time business, this is of great concern to us at MarLou's!

All of the APC board are working toward a solution, I hope we can count on your help too.

It should be funny but really it's not ......

Hi Marlou, happy to see that you have finally seen the light!

If we all club together we should be able to get these at about RD50 per unit ...

http://www.milkhoneyland.com/5-led-headlamp-p-709.html

Start a new fashion craze too!

Hello Annette, thank you for your reply.
As this thread concerns APC official notices I can only speak with authority on APC activities.

Hopefully the 30 million pesos allocated by Edenorte to restore lines in Costambar will resolve the problems for Los Mangos.

I agree with you Annette that Costambar would be stronger if all groups worked together. Apc board members have contacted members of other groups and I am sure we can all work together to create healthier and stronger community.

I would not wish to jeopardize further discussions with other groups or create further adverse publicity for Costambar by discussing it on this page.

I hope you Annette will work with us all to help restore harmony within Costambar community.

Lets thank Edenorte for the improvements they are doing.

Although I appreciate ANY effort carried out in order to convince Edenorte to provide us with light 24 hours, I know that APC is not the only group having meetings with the people from Edenorte.

Los Mangos have had a couple of very serious meetings with the management from Santo Domingo and some politicians too - not very long ago actually. I know they are handling this issue on very high level. As a matter of fact the electricity supply for Los Mangos is so bad, that they are forced to have their huge generator running the whole day. The line in that area has to be replaced completely, because the light is going up and down the whole time, destroying their equipment.

Also the Junta de Vecinos has made an effort to meet with Edenorte.

I say all this, because I do not find it fair that APC only talk about themselves and THEIR efforts, as if they were the only people doing something.

So why don’t you try to work together all 3 of you ? Costambar would stand stronger - much stronger - this way…
You write about “joint effort”, which I assume is the joint effort between the members of the board of APC - or what?? To me a “joint effort” is working together with EVERYBODY.
Especially because APC is NOT representing the majority of properties in Costambar and therefore they cannot claim in front of any authority to be in full charge of Costambar.. Therefore the importance of working together with other groups and companies in the area - to create the necessary strength to actually gain something for Costambar.

And I remind you, that the lack of electricity is not because of theft only.. The Junta de Vecinos discovered that they are steeling more electricity in Cofresi and Star Hills, than in Costambar and Cafemba ( this information was taken out of the web page of Edenorte)
It is only used as an excuse for not providing electricity (together with a million other excuses)

Fellow APC Members:


Last Thursday, February 23, 2012, four members of the APC Board (Stanley Bobyk, Amadeo Luciano, Sergio Ovechkin, and myself) had a meeting with the management of EDENORTE that resulted in three important outcomes. This was the 4th in the series of meetings that the APC Board has had with EDENORTE, in our joint effort to improve the electric service in Costambar. The objective of this joint effort is to reduce the theft and loss of electricity and consequently reduce the number of hours during which electricity is cut.


1. EDENORTE has seen a steady improvement in the loss ratio such that starting next month EDENORTE will decrease the cuts from 7 to 5 1/2 hours per day. When we began the collaboration in the summer of 2011 electricity was being cut for 9 to 10 hours a day.


2. EDENORTE has approved and allocated RD$ 30 million to revamp the electric grid/lines in Costambar, and it is in the process of procuring the material necessary to do so. Once this work is completed the theft and loss of electricity in Costambar will decrease dramatically, allowing EDENORTE to provide 24-hour service to Costambar.


Keep your fingers crossed. I, as most of you, am and should be sckeptical. But something is different this time. In the past, and as recently as when we began the joint effort, EDENORTE had insisted that Costambar residents pay for the upgrade of the electric grid and only then would we have 24-hour service. The estimated cost then was about R$D27 million. Now apparently EDENORTE has allocated some RD$ 30 million and are in the process of procuring the material. Additionally, as you might have noted that EDENORTE has been working in making small improvements in the Costambar grid. If eventually 24-hour electricity becomes a reality it will be the culmination of the this effort that began more than a year ago when the CEO of EDENORTE came to Costambar from Santo Domingo and I had an in-depth extended meeting with him and eight of his assistants. And fortunately, one of the managers of EDENORTE responsible for the Puerto Plata area who has been our principal interlocutor locally is the same person I met when the negotiations first began.


3. EDENORTE informed us that the Puerto Plata Ayuntamiento is not paying for the electricity used in lighting the streets of Costambar. As a result EDENORTE will cut power to the street lights in Costambar beginning March 5, 2012, unless someone pays for it at a cost of about RD$100,000 per month. In the Dominican Republic, the local municipality receives 3% of all receipts collected by EDENORTE and the municipality pays for street lights with these funds. As per EDENORTE the Puerto Plata municipality receives the 3% from Costambar receipts but refuses to pay for the street lights claiming that Costambar is a private project. We made it very clear to the managers of EDENORTE that APC was neither inclined nor in a position to pay for street lights, and that if indeed Costambar becomes dark at night on March 5 there will certainly be serious repercussions. We have sought a meeting with Walter Musa the mayor of Puerto Plata next week to resolve this issue. He was then away on a trip abroad.


Stay tuned for this developing saga with EDENORTE.


Yash Aggarwal


APC - President