Electricity "not enough" to cook rice

According to the residents of Ngoc Son village (Ha Son commune, Ha Trung), for many years they have had to live in misery due to weak electricity. Since the beginning of 2024, the weak and unstable electricity has damaged many electrical appliances in the house.

Mr. Tran Van Gian (born in 1961) said that the weak electricity situation in the village has been going on for many years. Recently, the power source has become even weaker. During peak hours at noon and in the afternoon, his family cannot plug in the rice cooker.

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Mr. Gian said that weak electricity caused his family's TV to break down. Photo: Le Duong

“To have rice to eat, before going to work, my family has to cook rice in the morning. Many times when we come home and take out the rice to eat, the rice is soggy due to the unstable electricity,” said Mr. Gian.

According to Mr. Gian, many electrical appliances in his family have been damaged recently. Recently, while the couple was watching TV, the screen suddenly went black and there was no power.

“I had to repair the TV for 1.5 million VND. When I turned it on, the electricity was weak and unstable, so I didn’t dare watch it anymore. When we had guests, I took out a hot pot to cook but the electricity wasn’t enough, so I had to go to my neighbor’s house to borrow a mini gas stove to use,” Mr. Gian said indignantly.

Ms. Le Thi Mien said that although the summer is hot, her family does not dare to install air conditioning because even if they did, they would not be able to use it.

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Ms. Mien had to wait until midnight to use electricity to wash her clothes. Photo: Le Duong

“In winter, the electricity is not enough to turn on the hot and cold water heater. Every afternoon, my family has to boil water on a wood stove for bathing. The clothes in the washing machine can only run until midnight,” said Ms. Mien.

Not far from Mrs. Mien’s house is Mrs. Le Thi Luyen’s house (born in 1972). In previous years, Mrs. Luyen often cooked rice with an electric rice cooker. However, recently, the electricity was so weak that her rice cooker broke down, so her family had to switch to cooking with a wood stove.

“Many days after coming home from work in the fields, I take out the ice tray from the refrigerator to drink, but the ice and food inside have melted. Now my family doesn't dare put food in the refrigerator anymore,” said Ms. Luyen.

Many devices are broken due to unstable electricity.

Mr. Tran Duc Hop - Head of Ngoc Son village - said that the whole village has 200 households, more than half of which have to use weak electricity. This situation has been going on for many years, but the weakest period has been since the beginning of this year.

“The electricity is weak, people cannot use household appliances, many items are damaged. We have also reported this issue to the commune many times,” Mr. Hop informed.

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Due to weak electricity, the contents of Mrs. Luyen's refrigerator leaked water. Photo: Le Duong

Mr. Nguyen Van Ngo, Vice Chairman of Ha Son Commune People's Committee, said that the weak electricity situation is not only in Ngoc Son village but also in Vinh An village, with a total of about 200 households. Voters have expressed their opinions on this many times.

According to Mr. Ngo, the reason is that the demand for electricity of the people has increased in recent years, while the power lines are too old and have not been upgraded. Furthermore, the transformer station was placed inappropriately by Thanh Hoa Electricity Joint Stock Company (the unit that sells electricity to the people), not in a central location, leading to weak power supply for households at the end of the source.

“The commune has sent many documents, even called the company directly, inviting them to come and survey and fix the problem. However, for many months now, the electricity company has not been able to resolve this problem for the people,” said Mr. Ngo.

Speaking with VietNamNet , Mr. Nguyen Van Xuyen - Director of Thanh Hoa Electricity Business Management Joint Stock Company (the unit that buys electricity from EVN and resells it to people) said that the company has received feedback from people and local authorities regarding the weak power source occurring in Ngoc Son and Vinh An villages.

Mr. Xuyen said that the transformer station's capacity is not lacking. However, because the station is 1.3km away, the people's demand for electricity is increasing, leading to an increase in load and a weakened power line.

"It is true that the rice cooker cannot be plugged in during peak hours as reported. We have also learned that many electrical devices are damaged. The cause is due to the unstable electricity, sometimes weak, sometimes strong, causing the relays of the devices to jump continuously, leading to fire and damage.

For now, we recommend that people should share electricity and not use it locally during peak hours," said Mr. Xuyen. The company is coordinating with local authorities to discuss a solution.