Rural low voltage grid: Unsafe in daily life and production

(Baonghean) - Degraded power grid infrastructure has caused power loss, potential insecurity, and greatly affected the quality of power supply services for daily life, production, and business of businesses and people.

The handover of the rural low voltage grid aims to unify electricity prices, reduce power losses and improve the quality of electricity services. People hope that when the Electricity sector takes over, manages, invests in the grid and sells electricity directly to households, it will bring many benefits to users.

Repairing the power grid in Long Son commune (Anh Son)

However, in reality, there are still many shortcomings in power line planning, degraded power infrastructure; limited power quality affecting life and production. People are even worried that the power grid infrastructure always has potential risks of insecurity when the rainy and stormy season is approaching.

According to Mr. Nguyen Thuong Hien - Deputy Director of Nghe An Electricity Company, the degraded grid infrastructure is the main cause of large power losses. Meanwhile, the electricity industry faces many difficulties due to the large area and complex terrain, which hinders management and operation...

People contributed to erecting poles and pulling wires to bring electricity to their homes; the power supply was unstable and unstable. During peak hours, appliances such as rice cookers and electric fans could not be used. Some families had to buy batteries for lighting. In the summer, during peak hours (from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m.), they had to use flashlights and kerosene lamps for daily activities.

That is the current situation in hamlet 12, Long Son commune (Anh Son), according to the reflection of Mr. Truong Cong Ty, a resident of this hamlet. And like in Hung Son commune (Anh Son), the whole commune has 9 hamlets, in hamlets 8 and 9 the electricity quality is very poor. During peak hours, people cannot use household electrical appliances, and poor electricity quality also damages people's production.

Mr. Hoang Dinh My - Chairman of Hung Son Commune People's Committee said: Hung Son is one of the district's tea granaries, with an area of ​​up to 520 hectares. The weather is hot, requiring grid power for irrigation. Although there are 47 large and small dams in the area, due to lack of electricity to pump water, in 2015 the commune suffered 20 hectares of dead tea due to drought.

People in Vien Thanh and Yen Thanh have to use wooden sticks to prop up the crooked electric pole, which is very unsafe.

In Yen Thanh district, for many years now, people in Tien Thanh commune have been unable to invest in machinery for production because of weak electricity. Some households bought some mechanical machines to repair agricultural production machines, but due to weak electricity, they could not use them and had to sell them at a low price.

Mr. Nguyen Huu Dai - Chairman of Tien Thanh Commune People's Committee said: Tien Thanh has a large population, long power lines, while there are only 2 transformer stations 250 Kv/station, used for over 20 years. Currently, the commune has 7/10 hamlets (equivalent to 80% of households) lacking stable power source. The commune has handed over the power grid to the Electricity sector since the end of 2014, but the Electricity sector has not invested in synchronous upgrading, so it is now seriously degraded, even the electricity for daily life is not enough.

In early 2016, some households bought voltage stabilizers and contributed over 30 million VND to bring electricity from RE II road, but the quality of electricity has not improved much. The degraded power lines and poles are also at risk of being unsafe during the rainy season. The commune has reported and submitted many documents to the district and the electricity company to request a solution...

Electric wires and electric meters are temporarily hung on the fence of a house in Nghia Tien commune, Thai Hoa town.

A current situation that is causing frustration for people in many rural areas in the province is that the planning of power lines after handover in many places is still patchy; not only causing power loss but also posing potential safety risks.

Mr. Le Van Quyet - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of An Hoa Commune (Quynh Luu) said: The power system in the commune has been handed over to the Electricity Department for management for a long time. The fact that people have to live under low-voltage power lines every day poses many potential safety risks. The commune has reported and made recommendations to the authorities and the Electricity Department many times, but so far there has been no plan for relocation. The commune has also advised people not to build houses or structures close to power lines; directed hamlet chiefs and police officers to regularly inspect the situation so that if any problems arise, they can be promptly resolved and handled.

Completing the reception of the rural low voltage grid and implementing the mechanism of selling electricity directly to each household has brought useful values ​​to electricity customers. From here, rural people have been able to use electricity at the same price as urban people, and damage incidents have been promptly handled...

However, after the implementation of the policy of eliminating total electricity sales, the situation of electricity loss has tended to increase, the first cause of which is the situation of illegal electricity hookup which is becoming more and more common. Yen Thanh is the locality with the third largest number of customers in the province with over 81,000 customers. After completing the reception, the electricity loss in Yen Thanh is still very high, reaching 13% in 2015 alone.

Yen Thanh district has nearly 2,000 seriously damaged electric poles that must be replaced, not to mention the system of bare wires and porcelain beams that have been used for too long and have degraded, with loose wires and broken connections in many places, so the power source is not guaranteed for people's daily life and production.

The reason is that the power grid infrastructure of 18 communes that the Electricity sector received and handed over in 2015 is facing many difficulties in upgrading and renovating. In Anh Son district, in 2015, the power loss rate in the area was 13% (higher than the average of the whole province of 9.8%), the cause of which, in addition to the problem of degraded power grid infrastructure, is the phenomenon of widespread electricity theft, which is very difficult to control, detect and handle.

After the Electricity sector took over the rural power grid infrastructure, every locality requested investment. This is the legitimate wish of the people, but the state of the power grid infrastructure is too old and dilapidated, requiring a huge amount of investment capital, the Electricity sector cannot invest all at once. Even in a commune, it can only invest in a few areas. That is also the problem that the Nghe An Electricity sector is looking for solutions to solve.

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