Poor workers burdened with expensive power rates

Even on the hot days industrial zone workers staying at Hau Duong Commune, Dong Anh District only use fans to save on their electric bills. - Photo laodong.vn

Do Thi Linh left her mountainous hometown of Tuyen Quang for Hanoi to work in the Bac Thang Long industrial zone. She rented a room adjacent to her company, and was irritated by the electricity price quoted by her landlord.

“I have to pay VND3,500 (20 US cent) for a unit. Summer has come which means I will have to use more electricity, and that means more money will be spent for it while I still have so many other things to cover,” Linh said.

It was quite expensive compared to the highest rate possible a household should be paying if they use more than 401kWh, at VND2,701 per unit.

Linh said that she questioned her landlord over such a costly rate, and the answer was not that pleasing to her ears.

“He said that all landlords here charged that amount, and if I complained about it, why I did not just go buy my own house,” she said.

“That’s how it is. I have to accept it.”

Pham Thi Diem and her family got an even worse rate when their landlord in HCM City announced that electricity this summer would cost VNĐ4,000 a unit, a steeping increase from the previous price of VND2,500.

Diem and her husband were both workers at the Tan Binh industrial zone, with a combined monthly income totaling only VND8 million ($348).

“We have a small child, so the demand for power usage is quite big. With the new price, it is so hard for us,” she said.

Hard for landlords too

Many landlords leasing rooms specifically for the blue-collar workers admitted that the power price they quoted was beyond reasonable for the poor tenants, but they did not have much of a choice.

According to the Electricity of Vietnam’s regulations, any households leasing rooms will have their power usage charged at business rate, which could possibly be doubled what a normal household using electricity in an unconstrained manner might have to pay.

Le Van Tien in Ha Nam Province built 20 rooms to rent out for a total of 43 workers with their 16 children. He charged each room VND3,000 per power unit.

“To ensure security in the area, my family had to install 15 high pressure sodium lamps and turn them on from 5pm to 7am the next day. We also give the workers a vacant land lot to grow vegetables, and run a pump to get the water to the land,” Tien said.

He said with such regular power usage, there were several months where the average price for one unit already reached VND2,700 after he divided evenly the total bill for his family and 20 household renters.

Tien suggested that the Government should issue regulations supporting the landlords, for example allowing them to pay the bill at a normal household rate other than the business one, if it really wants to help the workers.

Another landlord named Tan in Hanoi’s Dong Anh District said that he understood how hard it was for the workers with such high rate of power, but he must do it otherwise he would be at loss with all the initial investment for the rooms.

“Companies should raise the workers’ salary to help them, and the Government should stop charging the landlords at business rates to make the power and water price for the workers cheaper,” he said.