Deteriorating rural power grid infrastructure: when will people stop suffering?

(Baonghean) - In some districts and towns before the 10th session of the Provincial People's Council, everywhere we see and hear voters' frustration and complaints about the quality of rural low-voltage power grid infrastructure. Voters hope that at this session, the Provincial People's Council delegates will clarify related issues...

We arrived at Hamlet 12, Long Son Commune (Anh Son) late one afternoon, although it was dark, we did not see any family with lights on. We asked and found out that because the electricity price was too expensive, they only dared to turn it on when they were eating. And after the meal, if there was nothing necessary, they went to bed early, leaving only one energy-saving light on for their children to study.

Mr. Mai Van Khu - the village chief of Dong Minh village, had to use a battery lamp to find documents.

Hamlet 12 is located next to the Youth Volunteer Force 1 and is almost completely isolated from the rest of Long Son commune. In 1996, when the whole hamlet had only 60 households, the hamlet executive committee mobilized families to contribute money to buy bare wires, wooden poles, and meters to install the power system and then asked to use the transformer station of the Youth Volunteer Force 1. The whole hamlet used a total meter placed right behind the transformer station. The hamlet elected an electricity management board to go monthly to read the meters of each household and the total meter to determine the difference in electricity loss and then divide it equally among all households. The electricity price in the first years was 1,000 VND/KWh, then increased to 1,400 VND, 1,700 VND... and now it is 3,450 VND/KWh, even in October 2013 the whole hamlet had to pay an electricity price of 3,750 VND/KWh.

The price of electricity is too high, while the income only depends on a few fields (the hamlet has 126 households, more than 400 people, the poverty rate is 23.3%), making people's lives difficult. Many families do not have money to use electricity and have to use kerosene lamps for daily activities, such as the families of Ha Van Long, Nguyen Van Hai, and Tran Thi Van... Because the price of electricity is too high, 10 households have bought pull cords from Cao Son commune to buy electricity for use. Some families living next to each other use the same electricity meter to "save money". Ms. Truong Thi Lan (60 years old) and her younger brother Truong Huu Manh live next door to each other. Because the price of electricity is too high, Ms. Lan and her sister use the same power source with 3 devices: 2 energy-saving bulbs and 1 TV. That's all, but there are months when Ms. Lan and Mr. Manh have to pay up to 115,000 VND for electricity.

For many years, the issue of electricity prices and electricity management has been a "hot" issue in hamlet 12. The hamlet has elected a management board of 4 people, a hamlet chief and a deputy secretary of the Party cell to do the monitoring work. Mr. Tran Van Binh - hamlet chief said that the reason for the high electricity price in the hamlet is due to the loss of the power line. The Youth Volunteer Force sells electricity to the hamlet at a price of 1,700 VND/kWh, but the power line from the main meter to the end of the hamlet is more than 6km long, the bare wires run through the bushes, so the amount of electricity lost is very large. On the other hand, the households are scattered and isolated from each other, some families live a whole hill apart, so it is very difficult for the electricity management board to control the loss. "Because the loss is so high, we have no choice but to divide the lost electricity equally among all the households in the hamlet to calculate the electricity price. The hamlet's biggest wish is to have a low-voltage station and to use electricity at home according to the electricity price regulated by the State", Mr. Binh said. At the same time, he also confided that this issue has been questioned by the people many times when People's Councils at all levels have met with voters, and even questioned National Assembly delegates, but there has been no change.

Without electricity, Mr. Hoang Van Tung (Dong Minh hamlet) had to run a generator to serve production.

According to an official of Anh Son district, at the end of October 2013, voters had opinions with the delegation of the Provincial People's Council on the issue of rural electricity: At the 6th session, the Department of Industry and Trade promised to direct and coordinate with the Electricity sector to survey and count residential areas of farms, forestry farms, Youth Volunteer Force, and residents living in these areas to have measures to reduce electricity bills, because they still have to pay for business electricity. Why has it not been implemented after nearly a year? The handover of the power grid to the Electricity sector for management has been carried out, but why is the initial investment cost of cooperatives and people's contributions slow to be repaid?...

The residents of Dong Minh, Dong Thanh, Tan Minh hamlets (Quynh Lap commune, Quynh Luu) have a better economy than hamlet 12 (Long Son commune, Anh Son), but the quality of electricity is much worse. According to Mr. Hoang Van Tung (Dong Minh hamlet), the people of the 3 hamlets invested in power lines since 1999, however, the quality of electricity was only stable for the first 3 years, but after that it was unstable, sometimes there, sometimes not, until now it is extremely poor. Mr. Tung was upset: "My house is full of broken electrical appliances, from TVs, rice cookers, fans, light bulbs... Electricity is so hard to deal with". Mr. Tung's family makes fishing boats, because they cannot rely on the hamlet's power grid, he has to buy a generator to use, spending about 100 million VND a year on fuel. In Dong Minh hamlet, many families in production and business have to buy generators to use, even some shrimp farming families have to buy 3-4 generators.

According to Mr. Mai Van Khu - Head of Dong Minh Hamlet, all 3 hamlets with over 600 households and 2,200 people share a transformer station. The power line has been degraded for a long time, while the people's demand for electricity in production and business is very high, so it cannot handle the load, causing frequent short circuits and fires. "Quynh Luu Electricity Department has come to inspect, the people want the department to take over to improve the quality of electricity. However, they do not accept because the 3 hamlets are located in Dong Hoi Industrial Park, but the industrial park will not be completed until the end of the century, while the people are very miserable because of electricity. At night, the children do not have electricity to study, I myself have to use battery lights to do the books for the hamlet. It has been 7 years, not a short time..." -

Mr. Khu lamented. Quynh Lap B Primary School is also in the same situation. Principal Phan Van Sang said: Our school is also very miserable because of electricity and because it is located in the planning area of ​​Dong Hoi industrial park, we want to renovate the house and the electrical system but are not allowed. Because of the weak electricity, the school has replaced all the neon lights with energy-saving bulbs, but many times they still do not light up. Also because of the unstable electricity, on the opening day, the entire loudspeaker and amplifier system burned out...".

Mr. Tran Dinh Chien - Chairman of Quynh Lap Commune People's Committee also confirmed that the people of the three hamlets Dong Minh, Dong Thanh, Tan Minh have long wanted to renovate the power system, but because they are located in the planning area of ​​Dong Hoi Industrial Park, they have had to give up. The Provincial People's Committee worked with the Industrial Park and promised the people to build a 35 kWA power line, but the power poles have been erected for a long time but no wires have been installed. The handover of the power grid to the Electricity sector for management is also not possible because Quynh Lap Commune has the RE2 power project. If the handover is accepted, the Electricity sector is afraid that it will have to pay back the loan capital to implement this project...

The problem of electricity in Hoang Mai does not only occur in Quynh Lap commune. According to Mr. Le Sy Chien - Vice Chairman of Hoang Mai Town People's Committee, the supply of electricity for daily life and production in the whole town in the past time has not met the requirements. Weak electricity and unannounced power outages occur frequently. This greatly affects the lives of people, businesses and organizations in the area, causing public opinion to be very indignant, demanding that the Electricity sector improve the quality. The cause of the above situation is that the low-voltage and medium-voltage grid infrastructure is weak, while most of the electricity investment projects are unfinished and behind schedule; some were damaged after storms and floods and were slowly repaired.

In addition, management, especially the management of the low-voltage grid, has problems... "We have worked with Quynh Luu Power Company and Hoang Mai Power Station on planning, progress of investment projects in building the power system and handing over the power grid. At the same time, we have requested these units to have a plan in advance when they need to cut off the power. In case of power outage due to an incident, it must be promptly resolved as soon as possible... We also hope that Nghe An Power Company will soon establish Hoang Mai Power Company to facilitate coordination in performing tasks" - Mr. Chien said.

According to our sources, before the 10th session of the Provincial People's Council, the delegations of the Provincial People's Council visited the districts to meet with voters and received many recommendations related to the rural power grid infrastructure. In Quynh Luu district, voters reported that the progress of handing over the rural power grid and refunding investment money to people after the handover has not been completed; the power line infrastructure after the handover has seriously degraded and has not been repaired. As for voters in Quynh Lam, Quynh Lap communes, Hoang Mai town, the work of supplying electricity, the quality of electricity and implementing electricity prices for people still has many shortcomings, causing many difficulties for people's lives.

In Yen Thanh district, voters suggested: The Provincial People's Council should consult with the National Assembly to find a way to pay compensation for low-voltage power lines for communes that have handed over assets to the Electricity sector for management because according to Circular 06, compensation is facing many difficulties; Direct Nghe An Electricity to take over the power grid of the remaining 16 communes. Also in Yen Thanh district, voters also suggested that the power line and pole system is seriously degraded, affecting people's lives. Similarly, voters in Dien Chau district suggested: Currently, the implementation of the power grid return is slow; in some localities, low-voltage power lines are slow to be upgraded after being handed over to the Electricity sector, the risk of grid insecurity is very high, the quality of electricity serving people's daily life is very low...

Nghe An Newspaper, issues dated August 14, 15, 16, 2013, published a series of articles "When will the rural power grid infrastructure meet standards?", focusing on two issues: The quality of the rural low-voltage power grid and the return work after the Electricity sector takes over. This series of articles detailed the serious degradation of the rural low-voltage power grid in many localities such as: Nam Dan, Thanh Chuong, Anh Son, Tan Ky...; Meanwhile, due to "monopoly", in some places, employees of the Electricity sector have harassed people when they need to connect, install, repair... At the same time, it has clearly stated the shortcomings and limitations in the capital repayment work, in addition to objective reasons, relevant agencies have not performed their duties well... It can be affirmed that issues related to rural low-voltage grid infrastructure are making voters in the whole province worried and hope that relevant agencies and responsible people will answer specifically and clearly at the 10th session of the Provincial People's Council!

PV Group