Due to hot weather, families often use more electricity for cooling equipment, leading to a rise in electricity bills at the end of the month.

Recently, a man in the central province of Quảng Bình was stunned to see his family’s electricity bill increase by 33 times from the previous month.

Trần Việt Dũng, who resides in Đồng Hới City, said his household used more than 18,000kWh in June, meaning he had to pay VNĐ58.5 million (US$2,513). That’s a big jump from the previous month – only 248kWh or VNĐ489,000 ($21).

Dũng reported the incident to the Central Power Corporation under Vietnam Electricity (EVN) who asked Quảng Bình Power Company to verify the electricity consumption of his family.

After checking the figures over the last 12 months, it was found the household usually consumes 210-300kWh a month and pays VNĐ460-700,000 a month.

The cause of the error was later revealed as, by the end of May, customers had their electric meter replaced periodically. A worker of EVN recorded the wrong number for Dũng’s family electricity usage.

The Quảng Bình Power Company acknowledged the error and apologised to Dũng's family.

Statistics from EVN showed that more than 3.1 million customers nationwide saw their electricity consumption in May increase by 30 per cent compared to April. Notably, there were nearly 1 million customers with electricity consumption that was 50 per cent higher than the previous month and more than 215,000 customers with a hike by 300 per cent.

According to the EVN, electricity consumption of customers increased due to the prolonged hot weather in recent weeks, especially the heat waves with temperatures up to 40 degrees Celsius in the north as well as the central region. — VNS