The People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City has come up with solutions for enhancing electricity saving and ensuring adequate power supply during this year’s dry season.

The solutions were sent to departments, agencies, and the administrations of Thu Duc City as well as other districts in the city.

In particular, the People’s Committee called on officials and residents to limit wearing suits and formal outfits at work in order to decrease the need for air conditioning.

They also asked that schools, training and production facilities, and trade centers halve the number of operational elevators.

Air conditioners at these places should be set at 26 degrees Celsius, turned on one hour later than the office opening time, and turned off one hour earlier than the office closing time.

The city also encouraged these facilities to turn off or reduce lights in corridors and parking areas.

They should use electricity generators in order to increase their power supplies, if needed.

Additionally, lighting systems along streets will be switched on 30 minutes later and switched off 30 minutes earlier than normal.

The city will also turn off half of the lights on those streets with low traffic after 10:00 pm.

Half of the advertising lights and all decorating lights were also required to be turned off after 10:00 pm.

These policies will be applied until June 30 as a response to a power shortage risk this year as the El Nino weather phenomenon, which generally raises global temperatures, has led to low water levels in hydropower dams and reservoirs.

Ho Chi Minh City has seen daily electricity consumption set four new records in less than one month due to extreme weather, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation.

The city consumed over 93.53 million kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity on April 21, the highest daily power consumption level ever at that point. 

That number was bettered just four days later when the city consumed 93.57 milllion kWh on April 25, again 10 days later on May 5 when the city consumed over 94.43 million kWh, and again the following day, May 6, when the city consumed 94.8 million kWh. 

Vietnam Electricity Group (EVN) will intensify negotiations and signing of power purchase contracts with local power plants, weigh importing more electricity from China and Laos, and mobilize renewable energy resources in line with the law, EVN deputy general director Vo Quang Lam said during a recent online workshop held by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

Experts at the workshop agreed that it is a must to use electricity efficiently and sparingly to deal with the power shortage risk.

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