Violations of electricity usage in Thanh Chuong: Difficult to manage and handle!

(Baonghean) - The situation of "stealing" electricity in Thanh Chuong area is complicated with many extremely sophisticated tricks. Although many cases have been handled, the viewpoints between functional agencies and local authorities are still "unbalanced", so there is no deterrent effect and the effectiveness is not high...

Thanh Chuong Power Branch workers repair power lines.

On August 5, 2014, Thanh Chuong District Power Branch coordinated with the District Police and Thanh Dong Commune authorities to conduct a surprise inspection of the electricity usage of Mr. Tran Tu Ha's household in Hamlet 8, Thanh Dong Commune. Through the inspection, the team discovered that the head of the household, Mr. Tran Tu Ha, had manipulated the electricity meter according to his will. Determining that Mr. Ha had violated the electricity purchase contract, Thanh Chuong Power Branch drew up a record and temporarily suspended the electricity supply. After calculating the electricity output on the family's appliances, Thanh Chuong Power Branch concluded that Mr. Tran Tu Ha's family had violated the law in the electricity sector. The amount of electricity that Mr. Ha had to compensate the electricity seller was 19,016kWh, equivalent to more than 50 million VND. Along with that, Thanh Chuong Electricity Branch sent documents to Thanh Dong commune requesting the commune to punish Mr. Tran Tu Ha's family according to regulations and announce on the commune's loudspeaker system about Mr. Ha's family's violation.

Mr. Ha's case is just one of dozens of violations that Thanh Chuong Electricity Branch has discovered since the beginning of the year. In Thanh Dong commune, in addition to Mr. Ha's family, there are also the families of Mr. Tran Vo Truong, Tran Vo An, Le Dinh Vui, Nguyen Cao Mai, Nguyen Dinh Danh... who have committed "hooking" for electricity. Mr. Nguyen Doan Thao, Chairman of Thanh Dong Commune People's Committee, said: Immediately after Thanh Chuong Electricity Branch sent the documents, the commune authorities fined the households that committed "hooking" for electricity, each household 2 million VND. At the same time, the commune announced on the local loudspeaker to remind these families and propagate to raise awareness for the people of the whole commune. The commune's viewpoint is not to tolerate, strictly handle to deter.

It can be said that the situation of "stealing" electricity in Thanh Chuong district is "heating up" through the number of violations and the amount of lost electricity. Specifically, in the first 9 months of 2014, Thanh Chuong Electricity Branch discovered 59 violations of electricity use with an output of up to more than 149,000kWh, equivalent to nearly 400 million VND. Of which, many violations occurred over a long period of time, causing huge losses to the Electricity industry. Mr. Nguyen Quoc Khanh, Deputy Director of Thanh Chuong Electricity Branch said: The situation of violations of electricity use is increasing in both the number of cases and output. There are many cases of families stealing electricity for a long time, but only when people become suspicious, report it and the Electricity industry inspects it is discovered. According to regulations, the Electricity industry will calculate the damage based on the devices the family has and calculate it in 12 months, minus the amount that the family has paid to recover the lost electricity output. Only when the family pays enough compensation and complies with the local administrative penalty decision and commits not to repeat the offense will we turn the power back on.

According to Mr. Khanh, the methods of "fishing" for electricity are becoming more and more sophisticated, complicated and very difficult to detect. The most common acts are: directly hooking in front of the electricity meter; interfering with the measuring circuit system to distort the meter's operating principle diagram. The methods and tricks of theft are increasingly sophisticated and difficult to detect, such as: using small pliers to break the lead seal, thereby interfering with the meter (such as replacing gears, replacing resistors...), then forging the lead seal; reversing the circuit diagram, reversing the neutral on the grid, taking the external coolant; using extremely strong permanent magnets placed on the meter to make the meter inaccurate, using a current generator... The area is large with 40 communes, towns and many agencies and units, so the Electricity industry cannot fully manage it. Along with that, the labor force is thin, having to contract with people in the communes but these people have limited capacity, their main job is to read meters, collect electricity bills, participate in troubleshooting when there are problems but not to protect, manage, and check the electricity usage of each household. Only when there are signs of abnormality or when people report it, the branch will go to check. Therefore, the situation of electricity theft is complicated," Mr. Khanh added.

Not only is it difficult to detect, but there are also many problems in handling violations. When detecting violations in electricity use, the Electricity Department requires the family to compensate for the stolen electricity output. Along with that, the local government must impose administrative penalties and announce on the loudspeaker. However, some localities often apply low fines, do not announce on the loudspeaker, so the effectiveness is not high, not creating a deterrent effect. There is a case like Mr. Pham Duc Nham's family, Hamlet 13, Thanh Ha Commune, who "stolen" electricity with an output of 2,718kWh, equivalent to more than 7 million VND, but the commune government only imposed a fine of 200,000 VND.

Or the case of Mr. Le Huu Tri, Ngoc Thuong hamlet, Thanh Ngoc commune, who "stolen electricity" causing a loss of 1,087kWh, equivalent to more than 2.8 million VND, but the commune only imposed an administrative fine of 500,000 VND, only a warning without announcing it on the loudspeaker. There are cases where the family is suspected of violating for a long time, but because the specific time of the violation cannot be determined, based on Circular 27 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the period of violation is determined to be no more than 12 months. "One of the reasons for the increase in electricity theft is that local authorities have not done a good job of propagating to people to comply with the State's regulations on electricity use. When there are violations, the fines are light, not deterrent, so it has not raised people's awareness. The Electricity Industry has repeatedly expressed its opinions but it seems that there has not been any significant change," Mr. Khanh added.

To prevent the act of "stealing" electricity, in the coming time, Thanh Chuong District Electricity Branch needs to improve the professionalism and responsibility of all officers and employees doing electricity inspection work; purchase and improve specialized equipment to improve the effectiveness of electricity inspection work; proactively coordinate with local authorities and police in preventing, inspecting and strictly handling violations of electricity use. Actively mobilize people to participate in the movement to detect and denounce violations. At the same time, strengthen coordination with local authorities and police to protect the power grid; propagate to people not to participate in or assist in violations of electricity use.

Nguyen Hung