The
majority of companies under Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN) are facing a high rate
of power losses from low-voltage electricity grids in rural areas because they
lack sufficient capital to upgrade the grids.

Workers from EVN build power lines to provide electricity for local residents in Long My District in the Mekong Delta province of Hau Giang. (Photo: VNS)

As of the end of last year, EVN’s
electricity companies completed a government programme in which rural households
bought electricity from EVN companies’ low-voltage grids.

Households that buy electricity
from EVN’s companies no longer have to pay higher prices, as they did when
purchasing electricity from traders.

Since June 2008, EVN’s electricity
companies have taken over the management of low-voltage electricity grids in
7,029 commune nationwide and have sold electricity directly to 11 million
households, reaching 74.91 per cent of households nationwide with access to
national power grids.

The Northern Electricity
Corporation manages low-voltage electricity grids in 3,156 communes with a total
of 43,000km of low-voltage grids.

The corporation has also sold
electricity directly to 4.2 million households.

Nguyen Phuc Vinh, general director
of the Northern Electricity Corporation, said the power loss rate at these low
voltage electricity grids is about 28-30 per cent.

The corporation has told its
companies to replace old electric meters to reduce power losses.

“All communes now have new electric
meters,” Vinh said.

To reduce power losses from 30 per
cent to 15 per cent, about VND3-4 billion is needed for each commune, Vinh said,
adding that with more than 3,000 communes, his corporation needs nearly VND10
trillion ($526 million).

“We have tried to borrow VND1
trillion ($5.2 million) from commercial banks and have been provided soft loans
worth a total of VND1 trillion from some international organisations,” he said.

The corporation currently has
around VND2 trillion ($10.4 million) to invest in upgrading the low-voltage
electricity grids.

Le Van Chuyen, deputy head of EVN’s
Business Department, said capital was the main obstacle for local companies that
manage the rural power grids.

Electricity companies could reduce
the power loss rate to the targeted level if they had access to loans, Chuyen
said.

If electricity companies cannot
borrow preferential loans to upgrade the grid, they would not be able to bear
commercial loans, he said.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News