A merchant in the beauty salon sector reports that since the pandemic, she has been dealing with an unresolved conflict with Edesur regarding high bills, voltage fluctuations, a damaged meter, and power service interruptions, without the distributor or PROTECOM addressing the root of the problem.
Noemí Elizabeth Reyes Cabrera handed over dozens of documents to Bajo el Foco, including reports, claims, and official decisions, that support her case. Part of the file dates back to October 2025, but the owner clarified on camera that the conflict goes back further: “It has been a quite tedious process. It really isn’t just since 2025; I’ve been dealing with Edesur since the pandemic happened. It’s something traumatic.”
According to his account, after the pandemic he reduced the business’s operation, going from having five dryers to using only one and adopting an appointment-based system, with the expectation of lowering consumption. Instead, he claims that the bills went up: from a monthly average of RD$4,000 to RD$6,000, they began to hover around RD$11,000, despite the reduction in equipment.
Reyes Cabrera also recounted that she accumulated five outstanding invoices while managing her claims, and that she ended up paying more than RD$60,000 through an agreement to settle them. “How can a small business afford that amount? We were on the verge of closing the business, because we were truly working just for that and a little bit more,” she expressed. She asserted that the electricity expense ended up exceeding the cost of the local’s rent, a burden that, according to her, put the continuity of the salon at risk.
The merchant maintains that every claim filed with Edesur ended up escalating to PROTECOM, and that in none of the recent cases did she obtain a favorable decision. She questions in particular that her requests were declared inadmissible without, as she claims, a technician from the agency visiting the establishment to verify the fluctuations, check the facilities, or inspect the meter: “No one from PROTECOM has ever shown up. Neither for the fluctuation nor for the meter issue“.
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Reyes Cabrera said that he previously considered PROTECOM a reliable institution, as he recalled that years ago it ruled in his favor regarding a high bill claim, but that this perception changed with the most recent rulings. “PROTECOM is supposed to be there to protect the user against the Edes and be a neutral institution,” he stated.
Among the documents provided is a decision that declared one of her claims inadmissible. The owner states that she requested the evidence and technical criteria that supported that conclusion, insisting that no official inspected the business before issuing it.
The merchant also requested that Edesur’s actions be investigated, the causes of the reported fluctuations be determined, and the economic losses derived from the service interruptions be evaluated.
