Cuong, a student of the University of Technology has decided to lay by the computer in a wardrobe and only turn on the computer when he must use it for university exercises.

Hung, Son, and Hai, the students of the Transport University, who share the same hired room, have also decided to ‘hide’ two computers and share the third one

At the time when Cuong purchased the computer, the electricity price set by the Electricity of Vietnam was VND 550/kwh, and he had to pay VND 2,000/kwh to the owner of the hired house. Previously, Cuong used 15kwh a month, but after that, with the new computer, he used 40kwh, which meant that he had to pay VND 80,000 a month for the electricity bill.

However, the sum of money Cuong has to pay for electricity bill may increase the next month, as Cuong has been told by the owner of the hired house that he will have to pay VND 3,500/kwh. This has prompted Cuong to ‘hide’ the computer to practice thrift.

The student has estimated that with the new electricity price, he will have to pay VND 150,000 a month for electricity. Meanwhile, his parents give him only VND 1.2 million which should cover hire room rent, electricity, the water bill, meals, and other expenses. Meanwhile, the prices of commodities and services all have been escalating.

“I well understand that computer is very necessary for a technology student. But I cannot afford the electricity bill. The payment for lighting, the electric pan, and the electric cooker would be high enough to burden me,” Cuong said.

Hung, Son, and Hai, the students of the Transport University, who share the same hired room, have also decided to ‘hide’ two computers and share the third one. With the three computers, they used 100kwh of electricity a month, which will be a burden on them when the price is raised to VND 3,000/kwh.

A student of the Hanoi University complained that the owner of her hired house has said he will charge VND 4,000/kwh. “Students always have to practice thrift. Some students even go to lecture halls with an empty stomach. We even have to limit the number of minutes of watching TV.”

Suong, a student of the Law University, related that previously, the friend of the next room, always borrowed his iron, but she has decided not to use the iron any more because she would rather wear wrinkled clothes than paying a higher electricity bill.

When announcing the electricity price increase, the power supplier said that every household will have to pay several tens of thousands of VND a month for electricity, which it believes is not much. However, the small sum of money in the eyes of high income earners is really a big sum of money for students who have to cut all their spending for basic needs, and they don’t know which expenses to cut further.

VietNamNet/Dan tri