Directive No. 171/CT-TTg on Strengthening the Implementation of Electricity Saving

DIRECTIVE
On Strengthening the Implementation of Electricity Saving

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In recent years, the Government has focused on directing investment in developing power sources and grids to ensure electricity supply for economic and social development goals, national security and defense, and to meet the electricity needs for daily life of the people. However, in 2011 and the following few years, Vietnam may still face difficulties in ensuring electricity supply during the dry months, especially when prolonged droughts occur, resulting in insufficient water for hydropower plants to generate electricity. Meanwhile, the implementation of electricity saving in production, business, and consumption is not yet thorough; electricity saving has not received genuine attention from the community, the people, and businesses, leading to wastage of national resources and negative impacts on the environment.

To ensure stable electricity supply for production, business, and essential living needs of the people, to strengthen the use of electricity efficiently and economically, the Prime Minister requests that strict measures be taken to implement electricity saving, particularly during the dry months (from January 1 to June 30 each year), with the following specific measures:

1. Ministries, ministerial-level agencies, government agencies, provincial People's Committees under the central government, state-owned enterprises shall immediately implement the following solutions:

a) For agencies and offices:

- Develop and implement annual plans for electricity usage savings of the agency or unit according to Circular 111/2009/TTLT/BTC-BCT of the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Industry and Trade on guiding the implementation of electricity saving in state agencies and public service units.

- Develop and promulgate regulations on electricity usage, replacement, and repair of electrical equipment at the agency or unit based on the following principles:

+ Turn off unnecessary electrical devices when leaving the room and at the end of working hours, completely disconnect power if the devices are not in use after working hours.

+ Maximize natural light and ventilation, turn off some lights when the number of people working in the room decreases. Design and install lighting systems for corridors, gardens, and security areas according to standards ...

+ Only use air conditioning when really necessary, set cooling temperatures from 25°C upwards. Use fans instead of air conditioning when the weather is not too hot.⁰+ When renovating or equipping new facilities, use high-efficiency energy-consuming means and equipment as prescribed or electrical equipment with energy-saving labels; strictly prohibit the replacement or purchase of incandescent lamps.

+ Popularize and enforce all staff to implement electricity saving, include electricity saving usage in performance evaluation criteria, internal discipline compliance, and annual commendation and awards.

b) For public lighting:

- Inspect and evaluate public lighting conditions according to current lighting standards, ensuring efficient and economical lighting principles according to Vietnamese Standard TCXDVN 259:2001.

- Apply automatic control systems with power adjustment modes to reduce nighttime lighting power when traffic density decreases.

- Implement investment and installation of automatic control systems for main street lighting systems, reasonably adjust street lighting times throughout the year according to local living needs and activities, avoiding electricity waste.

- When replacing faulty lamps, use high-efficiency light sources and lighting equipment; use high-pressure sodium lamps and low-pressure sodium lamps for street lighting; use small low-pressure sodium lamps and compact fluorescent lamps for alley and pedestrian paths; use metal halide lamps for squares. Encourage the use of LED lamps in appropriate locations;

- In garden and park lighting systems, only use energy-saving lamps, reduce 50% of peak evening lighting power during the system's peak hours, except for holidays, festivals, and major events in the locality.

c) For electricity usage in daily life and service operations:

- Households should limit the use of large electricity-consuming devices (air conditioners, hot water tanks, electric irons ...) during the system's peak hours, from 5 pm to 9 pm daily; encourage the use of energy-saving lamps such as compact fluorescent lamps or T8, T5 fluorescent lamps, high-efficiency ballasts, solar-powered hot water heaters, and electrical equipment with energy-saving labels, disconnect unused devices from the power source.

- Restaurants and commercial service establishments should reduce 50% of outdoor advertising lighting power during the system's peak evening hours; in special cases, turn off all large advertisement panel lighting after 10 pm.

- Restaurants, hotels, commercial service establishments, etc., must strictly comply with local regulations on efficient and economical lighting, and be ready to cut or reduce electricity usage when notified by the local Power Company in case of power shortages.

2. Production enterprises shall immediately implement the following electricity-saving solutions:

- Develop solutions for efficient and economical electricity usage, ensuring correct power capacity and load curves registered in the electricity purchase and sale contracts. Arrange production schedules reasonably, minimize the operation of large electricity-consuming equipment such as crushers, water pumping stations, air compressors ... during peak hours, and avoid operating electrical equipment without load.

- Enterprises listed in the priority energy-consuming facilities according to the Law on Energy Efficiency and Rational Use of Energy must develop an annual electricity-saving plan of at least 1%.

- Turn off unnecessary electrical devices and lighting during breaks. Thoroughly save electricity for lighting in industrial parks' courtyards, gardens, and internal roads.

- Prepare backup power sources to meet production needs in case of power shortages, and develop plans to self-cut loads in case of power shortages.

- Chuẩn bị các nguồn dự phòng để đáp ứng nhu cầu sản xuất trong trường hợp xảy ra thiếu điện, xây dựng phương án tự cắt giảm phụ tải trong trường hợp xảy ra thiếu điện.

3. The Vietnam Electricity Group shall have the responsibility:

- Strictly implement specific regulations on thrift in power generation, transmission, and distribution. Implement management, technical solutions, and system upgrades for new rural power grids to strive for reducing losses to 15% by the end of 2011 and to 10% by 2015.

- Provincial Power Companies (hereinafter referred to as Provincial Power Companies) shall organize statistics, monitoring, and reporting on electricity usage at government offices, agencies, and state-owned enterprises within their jurisdiction, comparing with the electricity consumption levels of the same month in the previous year, checking against the target of saving 10% of electricity usage in government offices, informing customers, and reporting to the Department of Industry and Trade, the Department of Finance, and the People's Committee of the province (hereinafter referred to as the Provincial People's Committee) to take measures against units and customers who fail to save electricity.

- Implement stable and safe operation methods in the power system; reasonably plan maintenance schedules for power plants; strengthen technical management work, improve equipment utilization capacity; reduce incidents, save fuel costs, minimize energy loss, and maximize and effectively utilize all power sources; rationally mobilize the capacity and energy of hydropower plants, independent power plants, and customer backup power sources.

- Provincial Power Companies shall be responsible for coordinating with the Department of Industry and Trade to advise the Provincial People's Committee on implementing power-saving measures when there is a power shortage; compile a list of production households prioritized for power reduction or supply cut in case of power shortage, submit it for approval by the Provincial People's Committee, comply with the provisions of the Electricity Law, and avoid affecting the production and business activities of enterprises; prevent widespread and prolonged cuts in residential power supply.

- Closely cooperate with the National Meteorological and Hydrological Center to update weather forecasts and water resources to proactively develop effective operational plans and use water resources efficiently for power generation.

4. The Ministry of Industry and Trade shall be responsible for:

- Directing Vietnam Electricity Corporation, independent power plants (IPP), and power plants built under the Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) model to adopt optimal operating solutions to address the current power shortage; accelerate the construction progress of power projects; coordinate with mass media organizations to widely publicize information about power-saving measures, especially during peak hours, so that officials and people can understand and implement them.

- Directing provincial industry and trade departments to cooperate with consulting organizations and energy conservation centers to assist industrial enterprises in building and implementing investment plans and energy-saving measures; promote high-efficiency, energy-saving equipment.

5. The Minister, Head of Ministries equivalent to Ministries, Heads of Government Agencies, Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees, and State-Owned Enterprise Groups/Corporations shall be responsible for:

- Implementing tasks stipulated in the Law on Rational and Effective Use of Energy and the following tasks:

+ Developing programs for rational and effective energy use, incorporating them into economic and social development plans and sectoral production plans, and inspecting and evaluating their implementation.

+ Organizing and allocating human resources appropriately to implement the Law on Rational and Effective Use of Energy.

+ Inspecting, evaluating, and compiling information from reports and energy use plans of agencies and units funded by the state budget and key energy-consuming facilities under their management.

- Directing strict implementation of the provisions of this Directive, while intensifying inspections and timely handling of cases where power-saving measures are not implemented, and publicly announcing information on electricity usage by government offices.

- In case of imbalance between power supply and demand, the Provincial People's Committees shall direct the adjustment of power supply within their jurisdictions according to priority order to reasonably meet the needs of production and daily life of residents.

6. The Ministry of Information and Communications, Vietnam Television, Voice of Vietnam shall be responsible for coordinating with the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vietnam Electricity Corporation, directing provincial information and communications departments, radio and television stations of provinces and centrally-administered cities to develop broadcasting and television programs on power saving, applying appropriate pricing for power-saving publicity for the common good of the nation; directing mass media organizations to allocate suitable time slots for publicizing the state's policies on implementing power-saving measures.

7. Ministers, Heads of Ministries equivalent to Ministries, Heads of Government Agencies, Chairmen of Provincial People's Committees of centrally-administered cities, Chairmen of Vietnam Electricity Corporation Councils of Members, General Directors of Vietnam Electricity Corporation, Heads of agencies and units, and individuals and organizations engaged in the power sector and electricity use shall be responsible for directing and strictly enforcing this Directive.