Digenor lab tests 52,000 meters in two years
Neris Castillo says that 20% (10,400) of the meters had problems
Diario Libre
SD. For the customer of the electricity company that suspects that his neighbor is stealing his electricity, or that they have manipulated his electricity meter without his knowledge and his electric bill has gone up, the country now has an independent laboratory for your electric meter to be tested without having to go to the electricity distributor.
After two years of service, the Laboratory for Measuring Electricity (Lamedig), a part of the General Directorate of Regulations and Quality Systems (Digenor) has checked out more than 52,000 electricity meters-an average of 71.2 per day-as the result of complaints by customers for high bills, for the Superintendent of Electricity and for the electricity distributors themselves. As a result of their testing, they found that 20% of the meters (10,400) were damaged or otherwise tampered with, and this implied a higher electric bill.
At the overall level, as of November of this year, the Superintendent of Electricity received via Protecom some 16,337 complaints and 14,618 were resolved in favor of the client.
The General Law of Electricity (125-01) establishes that the distributors are obliged to return in credits on the electricity bills of those clients that presented their complaints for high consumption, over measurement, change of rates, irregular or commercial outages that are proven to be well founded.
Since 2004, the Superintendent, through the offices of Electricity Consumer Protection (Protecom), has received and attended 142,448 complaints from customers, of which 134,249 were solved, a total of 94%.
The regulating agency has readjusted some RD$1.171 billion in favor of customers. Juan Bautista Gomez, the superintendent of Electricity said recently that the 18 offices of Protecom which are operating in the country, receive on a daily basis visits by customers who want to express their complaints in relation to the electricity service that they receive from the distributors and he urged those that feel that they have been affected to use this legal instrument in their defense.
Judge and jury
Ruben Neris Castillo, the technical manager of Lamedig, explained that before the distributors were judge and jury, but the law empowers the customers to go directly to the Superintendent of Electricity, if there is a belief that there is something wrong with the meters. The person does not have to go through the distributors. The Lamedig takes charge of the case and does the research. They can change the meter and send it to the laboratory, but they leave one installed for the client who was filing the complaint.
But, how does this help the house owner that feels that he has aproblem with his meter that affects his consumption? Neris Castillo said that there have been many cases in which the decision has favored the customer, with meters that were over registering the electricity consumption.
Castillo said that the service that the Digenor laboratory offers is general, since they have the prerogative of servicing the measurement from both a legal and industrial point of view.
Electricity law
The customer has every right to make a complaint when he feels affected, but because of a lack of knowledge of the law, they seldom do this. The law gives him as much right as a customer as to the distributors so that the process can go forward. Although the client cannot directly address the laboratory, but rather his suspicion that someone is committing fraud can be taken directly to the Superintendent of Electricity, which is the regulating agency that determines whether there is sufficient evidence in order to begin the investigation process on the complaint.
After two years of service, the Laboratory for Measuring Electricity (Lamedig), a part of the General Directorate of Regulations and Quality Systems (Digenor) has checked out more than 52,000 electricity meters-an average of 71.2 per day-as the result of complaints by customers for high bills, for the Superintendent of Electricity and for the electricity distributors themselves. As a result of their testing, they found that 20% of the meters (10,400) were damaged or otherwise tampered with, and this implied a higher electric bill.
At the overall level, as of November of this year, the Superintendent of Electricity received via Protecom some 16,337 complaints and 14,618 were resolved in favor of the client.
The General Law of Electricity (125-01) establishes that the distributors are obliged to return in credits on the electricity bills of those clients that presented their complaints for high consumption, over measurement, change of rates, irregular or commercial outages that are proven to be well founded.
Since 2004, the Superintendent, through the offices of Electricity Consumer Protection (Protecom), has received and attended 142,448 complaints from customers, of which 134,249 were solved, a total of 94%.
The regulating agency has readjusted some RD$1.171 billion in favor of customers. Juan Bautista Gomez, the superintendent of Electricity said recently that the 18 offices of Protecom which are operating in the country, receive on a daily basis visits by customers who want to express their complaints in relation to the electricity service that they receive from the distributors and he urged those that feel that they have been affected to use this legal instrument in their defense.
Judge and jury
Ruben Neris Castillo, the technical manager of Lamedig, explained that before the distributors were judge and jury, but the law empowers the customers to go directly to the Superintendent of Electricity, if there is a belief that there is something wrong with the meters. The person does not have to go through the distributors. The Lamedig takes charge of the case and does the research. They can change the meter and send it to the laboratory, but they leave one installed for the client who was filing the complaint.
But, how does this help the house owner that feels that he has aproblem with his meter that affects his consumption? Neris Castillo said that there have been many cases in which the decision has favored the customer, with meters that were over registering the electricity consumption.
Castillo said that the service that the Digenor laboratory offers is general, since they have the prerogative of servicing the measurement from both a legal and industrial point of view.
Electricity law
The customer has every right to make a complaint when he feels affected, but because of a lack of knowledge of the law, they seldom do this. The law gives him as much right as a customer as to the distributors so that the process can go forward. Although the client cannot directly address the laboratory, but rather his suspicion that someone is committing fraud can be taken directly to the Superintendent of Electricity, which is the regulating agency that determines whether there is sufficient evidence in order to begin the investigation process on the complaint.
Diario Libre
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