Problems in handing over rural power grid
Implementing the Government's policy of handing over the rural power grid to the Electricity sector for management to ensure consistency in operation, maintenance and development of the power grid. However, in Nghe An province, during and after the handover, many problems and difficulties have arisen.
(Baonghean)Implementing the Government's policy of handing over the rural power grid to the Electricity sector for management to ensure consistency in operation, maintenance and development of the power grid. However, in Nghe An province, during and after the handover, many problems and difficulties have arisen.
Quynh Nghia Commune (Quynh Luu) is one of the localities that has not yet agreed on the policy of handing over the rural power grid to the Electricity sector for management. According to Mr. Ho Khac Huynh - Chairman of Quynh Nghia Cooperative - the unit that is managing the electricity business here, said: "When there was a policy of handing over the rural power grid, the commune organized many meetings with the people, approved the People's Council meetings and believed that the commune's power grid still ensured quality and was operating effectively, so the Cooperative continued to exploit and use it."
Maintenance and repair of flood prevention grid system. Photo: TC
Mr. Ho Dinh Xich - Chairman of Quynh Nghia Commune People's Committee said: "If the cooperative is the business entity, the people will "benefit" such as supporting 20kw/month of electricity for lighting in each area, supporting the installation of light bulbs in public areas to limit accidents. On holidays and festivals, the cooperative will support electricity for lighting along the roads and schools. The commune is concerned that if it is handed over to the Electricity Department for management, these benefits will be cut. Besides, the cooperative also creates jobs for some local workers". Mr. Xich affirmed that if the State forces the handover, the commune will implement according to the policy, but the Electricity Department must repay the investment capital to the locality in advance.
Directly meeting some people in the commune to learn about the business management and quality of electricity service of Quynh Nghia Cooperative, Mr. Ho Thanh Xuan in Hoa Binh hamlet said: "The area where my family gets electricity from the 110kv line often has power outages and weak electricity, affecting people's daily life and production". He added that the opinion of Quynh Nghia people is that whether to hand over the power grid to the Electricity or continue to let the Cooperative manage it, the important thing is the quality of service, ensuring the safety of the power grid corridor... is what people care about and that is the responsibility that the subjects must put first.
Due to limited capital for renovating, upgrading and developing the local low voltage grid, while technical expertise is weak, the risk of unsafe electricity use is always at an alarming level. Talking to us, Mr. Ho Khac Huynh affirmed: “The difficulty in the electricity business of the cooperative is that the transformer stations are overloaded, while the demand for electricity for people's daily life and production is increasing, the commune's transformer stations cannot ensure capacity”.
Quynh Luu District is the unit with the largest number of communes that have not handed over the rural power grid to the Electricity for management (5/8 communes in the whole province). Mr. Phan Van Dat - Deputy Director of Quynh Luu Electricity said: "Communes whose power grids are degraded and no longer operating effectively have been handed over to the Electricity for reception, while communes that have not handed over, the power grids are generally still operating well and operating effectively. Although Quynh Luu Electricity has worked with the localities many times, the communes have not agreed to implement. Meanwhile, many communes have inadequate and degraded power grids that need to be maintained. For the communes that have handed over, Quynh Luu Electricity will organize inspections and handle points at risk of unsafety and organize electricity sales to households."
In general, the progress of handing over the rural power grid and refunding investment money to people after handover in the province is still slow; the price and quality of electricity supplied to rural consumers still have many shortcomings... management responsibilities and solutions to overcome the problems that voters of the province are concerned about reflected in the question-and-answer session of the Department of Industry and Trade and Nghe An Electricity at the 5th session of the 16th Provincial People's Council recently.
According to Mr. Phan Thanh Tinh - Director of the Department of Industry and Trade: To unify the progress of handing over the rural low-voltage power grid, the Department of Industry and Trade has worked with Nghe An Electricity Company on the progress of receiving. Up to now, Nghe An Electricity Company has received 271 communes. The estimated total remaining value of the received assets is 90 billion VND (including capital contributed by the people and investment capital from the State). Immediately after receiving, Nghe An Electricity Company invested 15 million VND/commune to immediately handle key points and unsafe points in the operation of the power grid; re-signing electricity purchase contracts and replacing all old electricity meters. To carry out the renovation and operation of the complete power grid requires time, investment roadmap, and a large investment capital. Currently, in addition to mobilizing the remaining units to promptly hand over the low-voltage grid to the Electricity industry, the company is also taking advantage of preferential loans from domestic and foreign sources to continue to complete the rural grid to meet the socio-economic development policy in rural areas. Nghe An is one of four provinces in the country to borrow capital from the German Reconstruction Bank to invest in 274 communes of 746 billion VND, the number of households benefiting from the project is expected to be 89,263 households.
Mr. Trinh Phuong Tram - Director of Nghe An Electricity Company said: “The reason is that the authorities, the Electricity sector and the Cooperatives have not reached an agreement on the implementation of the process and determining the value of the transferred assets according to regulations. The transfer of rural electricity to date is still slow for many reasons. First of all, some localities do not want to transfer the power grid because organizations providing agricultural services and electricity trading have lost their rights because they are enjoying profits. Many places have made demands that the Electricity sector must repay the capital and accept all existing human resources. Many localities have been implementing the REII project, so the volume of receipt and the value of repayment are very large. In addition, most electricity trading organizations currently have too many workers. Therefore, the problem of accepting human resources from these organizations is extremely difficult, especially since most of these workers do not meet professional qualifications”.
To complete the policy of receiving rural power grid in the province, in addition to the efforts of the Electricity sector, reality shows that it requires consensus and active support from local leaders as well as people using electricity in rural areas.
Le Thanh
