Change thanks to electricity

Electricity workers instruct people in Huoi Hoa A village, Keo Lom commune (Dien Bien Dong district) on how to use electricity safely and economically.

Before 2021, nearly 200 households in 4 villages: Huoi Diet, Huoi Say, Nam Pien, Nam Cang of Muong Tung commune (Muong Cha district) faced many difficulties and disadvantages due to the lack of electricity. Every house only had oil lamps to light up at night, and people's lives were quite quiet. Families with better conditions invested in mini generators powered by water, but the electricity was unstable and dependent on the water source. Since 2022, everything has changed when the national grid has brought electricity to each house. The lives of households in the village seem to have turned a new page. With the national grid, from household appliances such as televisions, refrigerators, rice cookers... to machinery for production and preliminary processing of agricultural products have been purchased by people.

Being able to use the national grid, Ms. Chang Thi Dinh, Huoi Diet village, Muong Tung commune is very happy. Ms. Dinh said: For many years, my family used oil lamps for lighting, now that we have the national grid, we are very happy! We can watch TV, have electric fans. In the village, many households have bought rice husking machines and vegetable cutting machines.

Ho Cung and Huoi Anh villages, Cha To commune (Nam Po district) are two of the most disadvantaged villages. Previously, due to the rugged and complex terrain and sparse population, the State could not invest in bringing national grid electricity to the villages. Some households contributed money to buy water-powered generators, but the electricity source was very weak, only enough for lighting. In 2021, implementing the project of supplying electricity to remote areas, Ho Cung and Huoi Anh villages invested in building more than 7.7km of 35kV power lines with 62 medium-voltage pole positions and more than 5km of low-voltage lines. At the end of 2022, the Electricity sector coordinated with the Department of Industry and Trade to successfully connect and supply electricity to more than 170 households in Ho Cung and Huoi Anh villages. People have access to a stable and quality-assured power source.

Mr. Mua A Sua, a resident of Huoi Anh village, shared: In the past, when there was no electricity, people's lives faced many difficulties. Lacking audio and visual equipment, people had limited access to information. Households with conditions wanted to buy machinery and equipment for production and daily life but could not do so. Since the national grid was available, many households in the village have bought household electrical appliances for daily life and production. Now that there is electricity, people's lives will certainly be more developed than before. Especially students have electricity to study, teachers use computers and technology to teach.

Bringing electricity to rural, mountainous and ethnic minority areas is a major policy of the Party and State to realize the goal of hunger eradication and poverty reduction, social security policies, and equitable socio-economic development among regions. With this spirit, bringing electricity to highland, remote and isolated areas has always been a priority and concern of Dien Bien province. Many areas were previously poor lowland areas, but since the national grid has been installed, people's lives have improved day by day. With the efforts of all levels and sectors, especially the implementation of the project "Rural electricity supply from the national grid of Dien Bien province in the period of 2014 - 2020", the whole province has provided electricity to over 6,000 households in highland and isolated areas. Thanks to that, up to now, the rate of households using the national grid in the province has reached nearly 93%. The coverage of the electricity grid to mountainous areas, border areas, and especially difficult villages and hamlets in the province has brought about remarkable changes. The appearance of mountainous rural areas and ethnic minority areas has improved; people's lives have improved, and the poverty rate has decreased rapidly.

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