City to reward power savers

Thứ tư, 6/4/2011 | 08:29 GMT+7

Households that cut their power consumption by 10 per cent or more will be rewarded under a campaign launched to partially offset power outages facing the city.

Enterprises and residents will experience regular power cuts because of a supply shortage and reduced household consumption can mitigate the situation significantly, officials said. According to the HCM City branch of Electricity of Viet Nam (EVN), the national power utility, households consume up to 40 per cent of the city's power use. EVN and the HCM City Energy Conservation Centre have launched a campaign calling on city residents to commit to saving electricity. They have promised to reward households that were able to reduce their power consumption. Households that can reduce at least 10 per cent of their daily electricity consumption over the next three months compared with the same time last year will be given rewards of VND200,000 to 500,000 (US$10 – 24). The campaign promises 10,000 such awards for households found practising power saving methods at the district level and 240 city level awards. The municipal administration estimates a shortfall of 1.5-2 million kWh each day at present, and this is expected to increase to 2 million kWh per day in April, with the onset of the dry season. Huynh Kim Tuoc, director of the HCM City Electricity Energy Conservation Centre, said households in the city have to pay VND5.2 trillion (US$248 million) for their electricity bills each year. If each family can save 10 per cent of their consumed power, accounting for 2 million kWh power a day, the city would save a huge amount of money, he said. "87,000 households in the city committed to save 9 per cent of their power consumption last year. This year's campaign targets women because they are responsible for managing household finances and regularly use electronic household appliances," Tuoc said. If 1.8 million households did not use air conditioners for just 30 minutes a day, they would save 0.9 million kWh, he said. Last year, a campaign calling on households in the city to save electricity effected savings estimated at 31 million kWh. Deputy Chairman of the city People's Committee Nguyen Trung Tin has asked EVN to take measures to improve power supply during the dry season and enterprises to adopt power saving practices. He suggested that enterprises equip themselves with standby electricity generators in case of power cuts. Production enterprises should rotate their schedule and work on Saturdays and Sundays to avoid power consumption during peak hours. Some 553 enterprises in Thu Duc, Binh Chanh, Binh Tan Districts have committed to rotate their production schedule to help avoid power shortages during peak hours. Along with HCM City, many other cities and provinces like Dong Nai, Kien Giang, Can Tho, An Giang, Binh Phuoc and Ha Noi have also adopted plans to improve energy efficiency and save power. Source: Vietnam News