Power companies blame the blackouts on the Gov.

Santo Domingo.- The Dominican Electricity IndustryAssociation (ADIE) on Tuesday blamed the rolling blackouts on a discretionarydecision by the State’s Energy Distribution Companies (EDES).

Citing data from the electrical system’s Coordinator Agency(OC) compiled last week, the ADIE said there was more than enough energy availableto meet the country’s demand during that period.

OC statistics "show that the power companies werewilling to provide to the system some 363,892.6 MWh of energy." However,demand that was supplied in that period was 331,192.6 MWh, "leaving asurplus of energy that was available and wasn’t acquired of 32,700 megawatts.”

The ADIE added that the number of blackouts which thedistribution companies arranged in the same period-from Aug. 29 to Sept. 4-total of 35,868.7 megawatts.