Shady business in collecting electricity bills in Co Phao (Tuong Duong)?

(Baonghean) -Dozens of households in Co Phao village, Yen Na commune, Tuong Duong district are very upset with the lack of transparency allegedly done by some officers and employees of Tuong Duong Electricity Branch. Just to replace the electricity meter box, each family has to pay 1.6 million VND but there are no documents or invoices, if any family does not pay, their electricity will be cut off.

We came to Co Phao village on a day in early April 2014, witnessing the anger of families living on both sides of the main road running through the village about the amount of money they had to pay to 2 people, nearly 6 months ago, who they claimed were officers and employees of the Tuong Duong District Electricity Branch. Co Phao village is about 1 km from Ban Ve Hydropower Reservoir, this land was previously the working area of ​​the Ban Ve Hydropower Project Management Board. After the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant was completed, this land was handed over to the local authorities for management, and since 2011, this land has been the resettlement area for a number of households of ethnic minorities in the commune and some from the lowlands to do business. When these households came to live here, they were accepted and used the domestic electricity system left by the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant, so the entire electric poles were made of steel pipes and bare electrical wires.

Mrs. Tam (Mr. Kham Xay's mother) and Mr. Phan Trong Hoan's wife discuss the matter. with reporters

According to local people's feedback, in November 2013, some officials and employees of the Tuong Duong District Electricity Branch brought electric meters and meter boxes to replace the old equipment for over 20 households in Co Phao village. After the replacement, these people asked each household to pay them 1.6 million VND, if any family did not pay, their electricity would be cut off. Because they were afraid of having their electricity cut off, these households had to pay them without any invoices or documents. Of those 20 households, only a few had new meters replaced, the rest kept their old meters, only the meter boxes were replaced. The absurd thing is, the electric meters of 2 families shared the same box, each household had to pay 1.6 million VND.

Mrs. Tam, Kham Xay's mother, was upset: My family and Phan Trong Hoan's family share a meter box. After replacing the meter box, they asked each family to pay 1.6 million VND. We thought they were replacing the whole meter, but when we checked, we saw that our old meter had been used for a long time, they only replaced the box and asked us to pay 3.2 million VND, without any receipt.

Ms. Lo Thi Huong - Head of Co Phai village said: I heard people reflect on that incident a long time ago, I don't understand why they collected such a large amount of money from people. After speaking, Ms. Huong led us to some households to verify the information. At Ms. Vi Thi Kim Hoa's house, Ms. Huong and the people counted from the beginning to the end of the village, there were more than 20 households that had to pay 1.6 million VND/household to Tuong Duong electricity staff, in which most of the households only had their electricity meter box replaced.

Ms. Vi Thi Kim Hoa's family also had to pay 1.6 million VND, but her family was one of the very few households that had both the electricity meter and the new box replaced. However, Ms. Hoa's family's new meter did not work. Ms. Hoa's family sells groceries, uses 2 refrigerators, a TV, a rice cooker... but after nearly 6 months of use, the electricity consumption index of the family's meter only showed the number 00004 (4 kW). Ms. Hoa confided: Seeing that for many months the electricity staff did not come to collect the electricity bill, I suggested many times that we should collect it monthly, because if we leave it too long, the amount will be a lot, but until now I still have not seen it. Suspicious, I looked at the electricity meter, saw that it was not working, but the electricity technician did not check it, but replaced it for the family.

Coming to the Tuong Duong District Electricity Branch, Mr. Tran Dinh Tu - Branch Director said that after the Ban Ve Hydropower Plant project was completed, the workers withdrew from the area, and up to now, the power project has not been handed over to the Tuong Duong Electricity Branch for management, so the Branch has not had a project to build a national power line to sell electricity to households in this area. As for whether the people paid 1.6 million VND to the electricity staff or not, I do not know anything. If there is, it is only an agreement between the people and the local electricity bill collectors. In that area, the Branch has a contract with a person, Mr. Vi Van Xuan, in Xop Mat village, to collect electricity bills every month. Maybe the people and Mr. Xuan agreed to install a meter and a box, then they will collect money like that.

Returning to Co Phao village once again, we went to Vo Trung Kien's house, the only household that required the recipient to write a handwritten receipt. Pham Thi Binh - Kien's wife was very upset with the fact that Tuong Duong Electricity staff collected an illegal amount of money from the people, then showed us a handwritten receipt, a notice "Regarding the recovery of transformer stations T1, T5 of Ban Ve Hydropower Plant" of Tuong Duong Electricity Branch dated September 21, 2013, sent to Yen Na Commune People's Committee and electricity users; along with many VAT invoices for electricity collection issued by Tuong Duong Electricity Branch. In which, the receipt clearly stated: "Today, November 23, 2013, I, Le Van Khanh, received from Vo Trung Kien's family the amount of 1,600,000 VND (one million six hundred thousand VND). Signed Le Van Khanh".

Handwritten receipt of money from Vo Trung Kien's family written by Tuong Duong electricity staff.

The content of the notice states that Tuong Duong Power Company currently plans to buy back TBA T1 to restore power supply to people in the Ban Ve area. To ensure safety and continuous power supply for customers, Tuong Duong Power Company requests customers to replace the wires after the meter according to regulations; customers should fix the situation of trees and houses in the low-voltage grid corridor.

Thus, since September 2013, Tuong Duong Power Branch has planned to receive a number of electrical transformer stations in the Co Phao resettlement area. Yet Mr. Tran Dinh Tu replied that up to now, the Co Phao resettlement area, specifically the T1 and T5 transformer stations, have not been handed over by Ban Ve Company to Tuong Duong Power Branch for management?

As for who directly received the 1.6 million VND from the 20 households mentioned above, we returned to Tuong Duong Power Branch and were confirmed by Mr. Tran Dinh Tu that there was an officer named Le Van Khanh in the agency. Based on the handwritten receipt of money that we provided, Mr. Tu confirmed that it was the handwriting and signature of Mr. Le Van Khanh. Mr. Tu said that on that day, the unit did not send Mr. Khanh to do this job. Mr. Khanh is currently an officer in charge of the unit's technical safety department. So, is it reasonable for officers and employees of Tuong Duong Power Branch to go to Co Phao village to replace the electricity meter box to arbitrarily collect money from the people?

Resettlement households in Co Phao village are ethnic minorities, life is still difficult, 1.6 million VND is a large amount of money for the people. Taking advantage of the trick of replacing electrical equipment to collect money without invoices and documents is a lack of transparency. The authorities need to investigate soon to clarify.

PV