Understand more about the electricity bill of more than 5.5 million VND of a household in Anh Son

In recent days, information has been posted on social networks: My parents' house is in Tao Son commune, Anh Son district. Last month, the electricity company went to record electricity and found that the electricity number had increased abnormally. When checking, all the equipment in the house was normal, there was no short circuit, only the total meter was wrong. The amount was up to more than 7 million VND.

"My father filed a petition with the commune andelectricitythen it was resolved to reduce to 5 million VND. Normally, my family never spends more than 300 thousand VND in winter, and less than 1 million VND in summer when the air conditioner is on. The family has filed a second application but it has not been resolved and the electricity company requires the family to pay more than 5 million VND or the electricity will be cut off," this account wrote.

Mr. Nguyen Canh Truong confirmed that the information on social media was about his family's incident. Photo: Pham Bang

This account also wrote that after more than a month, the matter was still not resolved by the electricity company. When the family went to pay the electricity bill of 186 thousand for November 2020, the electricity company did not collect it and asked to pay the bill of more than 5 million VND for October. In the following days, the family received many phone calls from the electricity company asking them to pay the money or the electricity would be cut off. When the family was away, the electricity company staff came to cut off the electricity without any notice or confirmation from the electricity company or the commune.

Through investigation, it is known that the case mentioned by this Facebook account is Mr.Nguyen Canh Truong, residing in village 1, Tao Son commune, Anh Son district. Talking directly with Mr. Truong, he confirmed that the information on social media was his family's.

“My child called me so I told him about the power outage at home and the electricity company announcing that the electricity bill for October was VND5,580 million. To be honest, I didn’t read all the information my child wrote on Facebook, but the truth is not entirely like that,” said Mr. Truong.

Mr. Truong talks with Anh Son Electricity officials and Nghe An Electricity Company. Photo: Pham Bang

Mr. Truong said that on October 13, while he was at work, he received a phone call from Mr. Dinh Xuan Luu (an employee of the Tao Son commune electricity service team, a contract employee hired by the electricity industry to read the meter and collect electricity bills) saying that his family's electricity output in October had increased unusually compared to previous months.

He asked Mr. Luu to check and was told that the appliances in the house were normal. However, the family's electrical wire connecting the meter to the house had been stripped of its sheath and was wrapped around the telecommunications company's electric pole. Over the phone, Mr. Truong agreed to let Mr. Luu remove the wire, reconnect it, and then turn the power back on for the family.

With Mr. Luu's advice, the next day Mr. Truong wrote an application and submitted it directly at the office.Anh Son ElectricityIn the petition, Mr. Truong stated that due to a short circuit in the wire behind the meter, the family's electricity output in October 2020 was recorded as 2,519kw. However, the family did not have enough money to pay. Therefore, the family made this petition and respectfully requested Anh Son District Electricity and related departments to resolve to reduce part of the family's electricity bill for October.

The location of the wire that was peeled off and short-circuited caused Mr. Truong's family's electricity consumption to increase dramatically. The wire was removed and reconnected at this location. Photo: Pham Bang

Taking note of Mr. Truong's opinion, Anh Son Electricity, after calculating, in the spirit of sharing and resolving difficulties for the family, announced that the electricity bill that Mr. Truong's family must pay in October 2020 is 5,580 million VND. The payment deadline is before October 29, 2020. Upon receiving the notice, Mr. Truong agreed and signed.

However, after the deadline, Mr. Truong's family still has not paid. Anh Son Electricity Company has issued notices many times, and electricity officials have called Mr. Truong directly many times to request payment of the October electricity bill, but have not received cooperation from the family.

Application for electricity price reduction in October 2020 that Mr. Truong wrote to Anh Son Electricity. Photo: Pham Bang

When it was time to collect the electricity bill for November 2020, Mr. Truong gave more than 2.5 million VND to Mr. Dinh Xuan Luu, but he did not accept it and said that he had to pay the full electricity bill for October, which was 5.580 million VND, before receiving it. On November 24, after many notifications, Anh Son Electricity sent staff directly to cut off the electricity of Mr. Truong's family.

Dissatisfied with the power cut, Mr. Truong went to the commune police to report it. On the morning of November 25, Anh Son Electricity, Tao Son commune authorities, Anh Son district police officers, and Tao Son commune police directly worked with Mr. Truong.

After the working process, the parties agreed on the content: Through on-site inspection, the electricity metering system was operating normally, sealed intact. At the scene, the wire behind the meter of customer Nguyen Canh Truong was pulled from column 15 to the column of Anh Son Telecommunication Center.

Minutes of the meeting between Mr. Truong and the electricity industry, local authorities and the police. It shows that Mr. Truong understood and agreed to pay the electricity bill for October. Photo: Pham Bang

"The incident point was the wire behind the meter, the customer's property short-circuited with the telecommunications wire, leading to an electric leak and an abnormal increase in electricity output. The electricity company has notified the family, handled the wire behind the meter, supported a reduction in electricity prices for the customer, invited the customer to work and explain clearly," the minutes stated.

The minutes of the meeting also confirmed that Mr. Nguyen Canh Truong clearly knew and determined that the cause of the incident was due to the wiring behind the machine being the responsibility of the family. The family would like to pay 2 million VND, scheduled to pay before November 30. The remaining amount according to the bill will be paid before December 20, 2020, including electricity bills for October, November, and December 2020 according to regulations.

However, according to the leader of Anh Son Electricity, up to now, Mr. Truong's family has not paid any of the 5,580 million VND electricity bill for October 2020 according to the minutes.

In reality, the electric wire after the meter leading to Mr. Truong’s house was old and degraded. The wire was temporarily pulled, hooked on a tree branch and then wrapped around a telecommunications pole. On this section of wire, many sections were broken and then reconnected.

The electric wire behind Mr. Truong's family's meter is wrapped around a telecommunications pole. Photo: Pham Bang

Talking to us, Mr. Truong confirmed that he understood and agreed with the explanation of the Electricity Department, and had no complaints. However, due to his family's difficult circumstances, he could not find the money to pay more than 5.5 million VND at once. Therefore, he hoped that the Electricity Department would pay attention, reduce the electricity bill for October for his family and ask to pay in installments.

“According to the Electricity Law, the assets of the electricity industry only go up to the meter. From behind the meter to the house, the people themselves invest and are responsible for management and operation. Although this incident is not the responsibility of the electricity industry, Anh Son Electricity has flexibly recalculated the electricity price according to the third price ladder, thereby reducing the amount that customers have to pay,” said the leader of Anh Son Electricity.