Limiting violations of electricity usage regulations: Raising public awareness

(Baonghean) - Violations in electricity usage, including electricity theft, are increasing, especially in the hot season, not only causing power loss and grid insecurity, but also affecting security and order in the area. Although the Electricity industry and relevant agencies have increased inspection and supervision, this situation is still quite complicated with increasingly sophisticated forms...

Sophisticated tricks

On the morning of May 23, the electricity purchase and sale inspection and monitoring team of Dien Chau Electricity discovered that Mr. NVT's family in Hamlet 1, Dien Quang Commune violated the regulations on electricity use. Specifically, they directly hooked up the 0.4 kV grid without using a meter. Although the inspection and monitoring staff of the electricity company and representatives of the police and local authorities had drawn up a record of the violation, Mr. T still showed resistance and uncooperative attitude. This is not the first time Mr. T and his family have committed this act. Previously, in May 2014, through an electricity inspection, they discovered and drew up a record to handle Mr. NVS's household (Mr. T's father) for similar acts and imposed a fine of more than 9 million VND. At that time, Mr. T, the representative son of the household owner and the direct user, signed the record but had not paid the fine, and now he continues to violate.

Troubleshooting electrical problems on medium voltage lines in Nghi Phu (Vinh City).

Ms. Nguyen Thi Truc Anh, an employee of the electricity purchase and sale inspection and supervision team (Dien Chau Electricity) said: In recent years, the situation of electricity theft in the area has been quite complicated and cases of violators having opposing and obstructive attitudes when discovered are not rare. In 2013 and 2014, the total number of customers violating electricity usage regulations in the area discovered was 141 cases, the total amount of collected and compensated electricity was 349,744 kwh, the amount of collected and compensated electricity was more than 1 billion VND, transferred to the government for administrative fines was 42 million VND.

In the first 4 months of 2015 alone, through inspection, 19 cases were discovered, the total output of arrears and compensation was 40,937 kwh, the amount of arrears and compensation was more than 123 million VND. In addition to the form of hooking, the subjects also removed the seal of the meter to perform acts such as: Breaking the seal to cut off the current coil, removing the voltage bridge of the meter, reversing the polarity of the meter, drilling the back of the meter to bypass the current coil, etc. Besides, there is also the phenomenon of some electricity customers cheating, many households registered to buy electricity for production purposes but in reality used it for business or living purposes to enjoy the difference in electricity price. Many agricultural cooperatives in the monthly declaration process cheated, calculated the balance of output for other purposes or cheated in dishonestly declaring the number of households using electricity that are poor households, low-income households to benefit from the price.

For areas with modern grid conditions and covered cable systems like in Vinh City, electricity theft is carried out in more sophisticated and difficult-to-detect forms such as reversing meter polarity, connecting outside the metering... According to statistics from Vinh City Electricity, in 2013, 12 cases of electricity theft were discovered. In the first 4 months of 2015, the city's electricity also discovered and handled 4 violations in the form of breaking the seal of the meter box, connecting directly to the poles to use electricity without measuring.

According to data from the Electricity Inspection and Monitoring Department of Nghe An Electricity Company, in 2014, functional units detected and handled 754 cases of electricity theft, the collected electricity output was 1,522,260 kWh, equivalent to 4,089,633,474 VND. In the first 4 months of 2015 alone, there were 193 cases of electricity theft in the province, the amount of arrears and compensation was nearly 1 billion VND. On May 7, 2015, through inspection and monitoring, the Electricity sector discovered that the meter of Mr. C.D.K's family in Hamlet 2, Dien Tho (Dien Chau) was affected in the metering system (short-circuiting the electric coil), leading to the meter operating inaccurately.

The amount of money that Mr. K's family was charged and reimbursed was more than 100 million VND. According to his statement, "because he did not understand how serious the matter would be and because of immediate benefits, he listened and gave Mr. T (the person who installed the machine for his family) 500,000 VND to adjust the meter". In the case of Mr. D.VH in Block 1, Anh Son Town (Anh Son District), he was discovered to have stolen electricity by changing the polarity of the meter, removing the neutral from the meter, and taking the neutral outside on February 12, 2015. Although the purpose of stealing electricity was only for family use, he still had to pay compensation of 42,300 kWh, equivalent to nearly 100 million VND.

The above figures show that the situation of electricity theft is becoming more complicated and increasingly brazen.

Not only does it cause loss to the electricity industry, it also leads to unfairness in electricity usage and disrupts social order and security.

What is the solution?

According to Mr. Nguyen Hong Linh, Director of Dien Chau Electricity, "in addition to the cause of limited awareness of the people, currently, in some localities, especially rural areas, the electricity service team is assisting in electricity theft. For example, in Dien Chau district recently, through inspection of electricity retail agents in communes, 26 agents were found to have violated electricity usage, and 53,027 kwh of electricity were recovered and refunded with an amount of 136,091,031 VND"... In addition, because the new rural low-voltage grid received in its original state from localities has degraded and cannot ensure operation, the low-voltage lines in some communes are overloaded, and the investment capital for upgrading and renovation has not met the requirements, leading to high technical losses of electricity. Therefore, the Electricity sector needs to focus on investing in and upgrading the rural grid system to overcome the situation of electricity loss and limit electricity theft.

Dien Chau Electricity staff check the meter that was confiscated due to electricity theft.

Mr. Pham Van Binh, Head of Inspection and Supervision of Electricity Purchase and Sale, Nghe An Electricity Company said: In addition to directing electricity branches to strengthen inspection and supervision at the scene, grasp information reflecting from people, manage metering, monitor electricity consumption of customers... to limit violations of electricity use, the Electricity industry has also signed a coordination program with the police and local authorities in the work of protecting labor safety corridors and the work of inspection and supervision of electricity purchase and sale. However, the coordination in some localities is not really positive.

The administrative sanctions of localities are not strict and do not have an educational and deterrent effect. Mr. Pham Van Nga, Director of Vinh City Electricity, said: "After receiving the notice of the electricity sector on the violations of individuals, the local authorities of the place of residence, in addition to administrative sanctions according to the previous Decree 68/2010 and the current Decree 134/2013 of the Government, should have the form of reminders on loudspeakers, criticism at neighborhood meetings to educate and deter. At some branches, violators of electricity use are required to have a receipt for paying the administrative fine before the Electricity sector can install electricity meters to sell electricity again."

Although the Electricity industry has organized a number of propaganda activities to disseminate to electricity users about the provisions of the law by measures such as signing a commitment, propagating on mass media about prohibited acts in electricity activities and electricity use, people, especially in rural areas, have a very vague understanding of the regulations on electricity use, so they consider the act of hooking up electricity as a small matter. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on promoting the propaganda of the basic content of Decree 137/2013/ND-CP on detailing the implementation of a number of articles of the Electricity Law and the Law amending and supplementing a number of articles of the Electricity Law; Circular 27/2013/TT-BCT of the Ministry of Industry and Trade on guidelines for inspection of electricity use and dispute resolution in electricity purchase contracts and Decree 134/2013/ND-CP regulating administrative sanctions in the electricity sector... to the people.

Every year, the whole Nghe An province consumes nearly 1.9 billion kWh of electricity, but the amount of electricity lost is 10.98% (the whole country is about 9%), of which the loss due to electricity theft (calculated by the number of cases detected and handled) accounts for about 0.05%, while in reality this figure is about 0.8%. Limiting this loss will save a significant amount of the State budget, while avoiding unfairness in electricity use. This responsibility does not only belong to the Electricity sector but requires close coordination of the police force, local authorities, and mass organizations where they reside. The most important thing is still the awareness of the people in complying with the provisions of the law on electricity use and in monitoring, detecting, and denouncing violations of electricity use.

Khanh Ly - Thanh Nga