Residents of more than 1,500 homes in Thanh Hoa Province are worried about their power supply after a local power firm announced they would halt their operations.
Power to be cut
Residents in the town of Lam Son have been getting their their electricity from Lam Son Power Joint Stock Company since 2003. However, the firm has stated that they will cut their power supply starting December 21.
An inspection conducted by the provincial electricity authorities found that they were charging higher prices than regulations had stipulated.
Allegedly, the company also required residents to pay a 7% surcharge on their monthly payments. This was done without informing local authorities.
“We have no choice but to halt operations. The regulations of MoIT have made it impossible for us to maintain our business. Private power firms, like us, have received no support from the Government," said Nguyen Chi Thu, director of the company.
According to Thu, the company was facing mounting financial difficulties recently. The collection of the 7% ‘surcharge’ was expected to share the firm’s burden in paying for their bank loans.
Attributing their non-accordance with regulations to financial difficulties, he added, "If people here would be willing to share our financial burden, we might be able to continue their power supply."
Solutions
Lam Tuan Hieu, who lives in Lam Son, said, “If our electricity actually gets cut off, we might build a power transmission line of our own. But the cost of this would be enormous. We all hope that the local authorities will step in to help."
The idea of a new power line being built is not only Hieu\'s. The Chairman of Lam Son said that the company has refused to sell power directly to local governments; they would rather gather fees from the households.
Since the power infrastructure in this community is run by a private firm, the bottom line seems to be profit. Creating a new power supply is estimated to cost about VND3.8 million (USD180) as maximum per family. Many households would not be able to afford this.
Still, on October 7, Tho Xuan District government requested that local authorities in Lam Son set up a steering committee for the construction of a new line.
Trinh Dinh Thang, Vice Chairman of the District People’s Committee, told DTiNews that they are gathering opinions from local residents about building a public power infrastructure in the region.
