Production brought to standstill due to power cuts
17:51' 26/03/2007 (GMT+7)
VietNamNet Bridge – The power shortage and unscheduled power cuts in Hanoi have brought production to a standstill.
According to the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the consumption of electricity in the first month of the year increased by 17%, while the demand for electricity for 2007 is forecast to increase by 15% only. Thus, the actual electricity demand is much higher than expected.
EVN expected that the total power demand for the dry season (from January 1 to May 31) would be 27bil KWH. However, with the current growth rate in additional charges, the actual demand will be 28bil KWH, or 1bil KWH higher than forecast, putting hard pressure on EVN.
EVN has announced it will cut power more regularly to deal with the power shortage, and the power cuts in Hanoi have caused severe economic consequences to local production.
Several hundred workers at the Hiep Hung Company on Thuy Khue street yesterday could not work as the power was cut just 30 minutes after the working shift began. Pham Thi Kim Oanh, Manager of the Workshop 1 of the company, said that the running production line was unexpectedly stopped, and that the equipment in the production line could be damaged by such a sudden power cut.
Hoang Van Tong, Deputy Director General of Thai Nguyen Steel Company, said that the company had decided to focus on laminating steel, while reducing the ingot steel output as it always takes too much power to make ingot steel. If the company can produce ingot steel domestically, it would save VND1mil on every tonne of ingot steel. As the company now has to reduce power consumption, it has to import ingot steel, which will cause economic losses.
Tran Hong Thanh, Director General of Hai Ha Confectionary Company, said that his workers had to stay off work on Monday and Friday due to the power cuts. He said that buying electric generators proves to be not a good solution as it is not economical in the context of high fuel prices.
He has also complained that many batches of products have been spoiled due to unscheduled power cuts.
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