Tuong Duong Electricity: Need to explain clearly to people

(Baonghean) - In mid-August, Nghe An Newspaper received a complaint from people in Tam Quang commune (Tuong Duong district) about the unclear way of calculating electricity prices of Tuong Duong district Electricity, causing damage to people.

In a petition sent to Nghe An Newspaper, Mr. NVL (Tam Quang Commune) said that on July 20, when he went to pay his electricity bill (from June 16 to July 14), the electricity bill collector informed him that his family had used up 229kw of electricity, and the amount to be paid was 437,500 VND (including VAT). When he held the receipt in his hand, he was quite surprised by the way the Electricity Department calculated the electricity bill, because the step-by-step price list was not in accordance with the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade applied from March 16, 2015.

According to Decision 2256 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the retail price list for household electricity has 6 levels. Level 1 is from 0 - 50 Kw, level 2 is from 51 - 100 Kw; level 3 is from 101 - 200 Kw; level 4 is from 201 - 300 Kw; level 5 is from 301 - 400 Kw and level 6 is from 400 kw and above. However, the way of calculating the electricity bill in Mr. L's family's July electricity bill is not only not in accordance with regulations but also presented in a confusing and difficult to understand way. For example, according to the regulation, level 1 is 0 - 50 Kw, but in the level 1 bill, only 49 kw is calculated, and it is divided into 2 calculations: the first calculation is 17 Kw and the second calculation is 32 Kw... "I asked why there is this calculation method, the electricity bill collector said that their only duty is to collect money, and for the specifics, they should go to the electricity company to ask," said Mr. L.

Mr. Vi Thanh Hoa (Bai Xa village, Tam Quang commune) talked with reporters.

It was found that not only Mr. L's family but also many households in Tam Quang commune and Hoa Binh town are in the same situation. For example, the electricity bills of Mr. Bui Huu Cuong's family in Khe Bo village and Mr. Vi Thanh Hoa's family in Bai Xa village (both in Tam Quang commune) although the meter readings were recorded on the same day (June 15 - July 14), the bills not only showed confusingly but also had completely different calculations. Accordingly, Mr. Hoa's family's bill showed the calculation according to the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but Mr. Cuong's family's bill showed that each level 1 and 2 was only 48 Kw, while each level 3, 4, 5 was only 97 Kw. With this calculation, Mr. Cuong's family had 13 Kw charged at a high unit price. If calculated according to the regulations of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Mr. Cuong's electricity bill is 1,683,986 VND, 8,805 VND lower than the calculation of Tuong Duong Electricity (the bill has the amount of 1,692,791 VND).

Talking to Mr. Nguyen Van Thang, Head of the Department of Industry and Trade of Tuong Duong district, Mr. Thang was also surprised and said that he had just received this information. Mr. Thang hurriedly checked his family's electricity bill from June 17 to July 14, he discovered that for levels 1 and 2, the Electricity Department only calculated 47kw; for levels 3, 4, 5, it only calculated 93kw. And the rest was added to level 6 with the highest electricity price of 2,587 VND/kw. "According to this calculation, my family has 27kw of electricity that is charged a high unit price. Although the additional amount is not much, this calculation makes people suffer. For one family, that amount is small, but for thousands of households using electricity in the district, it is very large. The above calculation of electricity bills is not in accordance with Decision 2256 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade and is extremely confusing, unclear, causing difficulties for people," Mr. Thang said indignantly.

According to Mr. Hoang Dinh Hoi, Deputy Head of the Industry and Trade Department of Tuong Duong District, the current way of calculating electricity prices by Tuong Duong Power Company has caused damage to the people. On average, each household is charged 10-15 kW at a high unit price, while Tuong Duong Power Company has signed contracts to sell electricity to 12,000 customers. If multiplied, the difference is not small and the Electricity industry is the one that benefits from this change.

Electricity bills of people in Tuong Duong district from mid-June 2015 to mid-July 2015 had changes in the way electricity prices were calculated.

At the meeting with the leaders of Tuong Duong Electricity, Mr. Bui Van Thanh, Head of Business Department, said: The change in the electricity price list of households in Tuong Duong district in July was due to a change in the meter reading date. When changing the reading date, mainly 1 to 2 days in advance (compared to the old reading date), when entering it into the computer, the CMIS software will automatically calculate backwards and the electricity price list will change. In response to the question that the electricity bills of Mr. Hoa and Mr. Cuong's families were recorded on the same day (June 15 - July 14) but the calculation method was different, Mr. Thanh said that it was all due to the pre-programmed software and that humans could not intervene (?).

It can be seen that the people of Tam Quang commune have a basis for reflecting on the unclear way of calculating electricity prices of Tuong Duong Electricity, causing damage to the people. The explanation of the Head of Tuong Duong Electricity Business Department is that it is due to the change in the meter reading date and the CMIS software is not satisfactory. Nghe An Electricity Company and related levels and sectors need to soon investigate to have a clear explanation for the people.

Pham Bang