However, many people are concerned that the recent increase in retail electricity prices will cause landlords to increase their electricity prices in the future.
Renting a small room in Bau village, Kim Chung commune, Dong Anh district, Hanoi, Ms. Ha Kieu Oanh (born in 1997) has to cover a lot of expenses. The rental price of the room, although only about 15 square meters, is up to 1 million VND/month; water is 100,000 VND/person; electricity is being charged by the landlord at 3,000 VND/kWh.
“The summer months are the time when my husband and I use the most electricity, because we use a lot of air conditioning. Every summer month, I have to pay 300,000 - 400,000 VND for electricity. In the winter, because we use less electronic devices, the amount we have to pay is less, but still up to nearly 200,000 VND/month,” said Ms. Oanh.
It turns out that each month, the young couple has to spend 1.5 - 1.7 million VND on rent, electricity and water. This is quite a large number compared to their income. She works as a waitress at a restaurant, her husband is also a freelancer, with an unstable income.
“If the landlord increases the rent in the near future, tenants like me will have to accept it and find ways to save electricity to reduce the amount of money we have to pay. If we can’t “take it”, we can move to another place to rent,” Ms. Oanh shared.
This female worker from Yen Bai added that she and her husband have to raise 2 children, have many expenses, so increasing expenses is an additional difficulty. "Total income is only that much. If we have to pay more for electricity, we have to cut down on other expenses, or use less electricity," said Ms. Oanh.
Ms. Oanh’s neighbors, Mr. Hoang Xuan Hau and his wife, are also very concerned about the recent increase in electricity prices. Mr. Hau works as a taxi driver, while his wife is a factory worker. The total income of this young couple is only about 15 million VND/month. They just had a small child, so the pressure of living expenses is even greater.
Since having a baby, he had to ask his mother to come and look after him. With more people, the living space was too cramped, so he had to rent an extra room next door. Each room costs 700,000 VND/month, which means that the couple has spent 1.4 million VND/month on rent alone.
“I have to pay a lot of electricity every month. The price of electricity is set by the landlord at 3,000 VND/kWh. During the summer months, my whole family has to pay 600,000-700,000 VND for electricity. In the winter, we have to pay less, about 300,000 VND/month,” said Mr. Hau.
A family of three adults still has to pay 100,000 VND/person/month for water. Thus, each month he has to pay up to 2.5 million VND for the family's accommodation.
Knowing that the price of electricity has just increased, Mr. Hau said that if the landlord increases the price of electricity, the tenants must find a way to live with it, reduce the amount of electricity consumed, and spend more economically.
What he worries about is that if electricity prices continue to increase, the prices of products and services will also gradually increase, affecting the lives of manual workers like him and his wife.
