Khe Tho people "suffer" because of... electricity!

After more than 20 years, dozens of households in Khe Tho new economic cluster (Khe Tho residential area, Dong Loc town, Can Loc, Ha Tinh) still have to use a homemade power grid system, causing unsafety and affecting the quality of life.

Video: Unsafe electric pole system in Khe Tho.

In 2001, Ha Tinh Rubber Company expanded the rubber plantation area to Khe Tho land. This was also the time when people from localities such as Dong Loc, Trung Loc, Thuong Loc... migrated to this area. Thanks to that, the remote mountainous area became a new economic cluster, people focused on developing the hill garden economy.

Homemade concrete electric poles with iron stakes attached to hold the wires.

Khe Tho Residential Area currently has 130 households. In addition to the households on the street side, where the Electricity Department has installed electric poles and wires, dozens of households in the Residential Area are having to make their own electric poles and buy wires to pull electricity for use.

According to Mr. Nguyen Viet Sy - Head of Khe Tho Residential Group, in the residential area, there are currently 5 areas where households have to erect poles and pull electricity themselves, including: Doi Vai (5 households), Khe Tren (6 households), Trai Coc (6 households), Cup Thuoc (12 households) and Truong Xai Khe Tho area (30 households). Even many households in the deep areas of Truong Xai Khe Tho can only use fans and very small capacity light bulbs, using refrigerators and air conditioners is considered a luxury.

Underground power lines in the middle of vegetable gardens pose a potential safety risk.

The homemade electric pole system currently has about 70 poles, with people pouring concrete pillars 3m-5m high, 20cm wide and adding iron stakes to hold the wires. In addition, electric poles are also replaced with bamboo, acacia or eucalyptus stakes to support the power lines.

People knocking down poles and pulling wires themselves causes unsafe situations such as electric wires hanging "hammocks" close to the road surface, and power lines being pulled haphazardly. Many households even fix electric wires to trees or let them run right in the garden.

Not knowing much about technology, many households run the power lines very low, the height from the road surface to the wire is only about 1.5m.

In particular, in the Truong Xai Khe Tho area, 30 households have to pull electricity from the main meter to their homes and install their own meters. Electricity bills will be collected by Can Loc District Electricity according to the main meter, and households in the area must send someone to collect electricity bills for each household. Many households in the deepest areas have to pull electricity for more than 5km. This length and poor wiring will cause difficulties in transmission, causing unstable electricity and a lot of power loss.

The messy power system at Khe Tho residential area.

“Every month, 30 households in Truong Xai Khe Tho area will send someone to collect electricity bills at a cost of 20,000 VND/household. My family draws electricity from the main meter to our house, a length of more than 3km. Every month, we only use fans, light bulbs and low-power pumps, but the electricity bill sometimes reaches nearly a million VND due to power loss,” said Nguyen Duy Toan, a resident of Truong Xai Khe Tho area (Khe Tho TDP).

“The planning of the civil power grid in Khe Tho residential area requires a huge amount of funding. In the immediate future, we will regularly check to warn of dangers. In addition, some old power poles will be reused to meet the temporary needs of local people. In the coming time, the unit will develop a project and propose to the Northern Power Corporation to have a plan to improve the power grid in this area,” said Mr. Tran Anh Dung - Director of Can Loc District Power Company.

Hoang Nguyen

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/ban-doc-viet/nguoi-dan-khe-tho-kho-vi-dien/246917.htm