Mountain residents cut off from standard electricity services

Source: Pano feed

Hundreds of households in a mountainous village in Thanh Hoa Province are compelled to turn off their electrical appliances due to irrationally high electricity prices.


Downgrading power transformer stations in Mau Lam Commune

Downgrading power transformer stations in Mau Lam Commune



Many residents in Mau Lam Commune of Nhu Thanh District, said they have to pay an average of VND2,200 (USD0.1) per kWh of electricity even though the Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Circular 17 stipulates an average price of only VND1,204 (USD0.05) per kWh for power consumption of 100 kWh per month or less.


Some that have household businesses have to pay VND3,200 (USD0.15) per kWh.


Due to the high power prices, many families that have modest incomes have been compelled to turn off their home appliances, including televisions, fridges, electric cookers and even electric fans during the summer to keep expenses within their budgets.


Vu Duy Khuong, a local man said, “Despite efforts to save electricity, our electricity expenses still reach over VND200,000 (USD9.43) per month, which is a lot for us. We have had no other choice but stop using all our electrical appliances over the past few months.”


According to Khuong, local households had to contribute VND860,000 (USD40.58) each to raise funds to set up the electricity transmission line to the commune.


From 1997 to 2004, households in the commune contributed a combined VND1.2 billion (USD56,630) to do so.


Thanh Lam Electricity Service Co-operative was founded with Nguyen Ngoc Chuc as chairman. The agency has since set electricity prices for local residents without any official electricity bills.


Many local residents complained that apart from inflated electricity prices, the agency often imposes fines on any households that have several electric home appliances but modest electricity consumption, claiming they are “stealing” electricity. They then cut off the power supply for such households until they pay a fine of VND1 million (USD47.19).


In late 2012, residents in four hamlets in the commune suffered from power outages for several days due to the transformer station breakdown. Instead of taking timely action, the agency forced local households to pay VND15,000 (USD0.7) each for the repair.


While the electricity power transmission line has been aging, the agency has made no move to upgrade it, causing serious power leakages.


Nguyen Ngoc Chuc explained, “Due to wear and tear on the electricity power line, the local power leakage rate is rather high, reaching up to 42% in some places, forcing us to increase power prices.”


He added that they have fined local households VND5 million (USD236) in total since the beginning of this year but he failed to clarify how the funding has been used.


Thanh Lam Electricity Service Co-operative has yet to get an operation license or signed any trading contract with the electricity industry since 2010 but has nevertheless continued their operations.


Le Huu Hoa, Chairman of the communal People’s Committee said they have asked the electricity industry to take over their power transmission line in order to conduct standard management and service since 2008 but only one out of four power transformer stations have been handed over to them.


“This is a big problem not only in Mau Lam Commune but in 13 other communes in Nhu Thanh District as the electricity industry has yet to take over our rural power transmission lines for upgrade and better management,” Nguyen Hoang Ngoc, chairman of the district People’s Committee said.




Đăng ký: VietNam News

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