In recent times, Gia Lai Power Company has taken many measures in propagating the economic and effective use of electricity, thus saving not only an energy source for the country but also expenses for agencies, businesses and households. Thereby Gia Lai Power Company has made a good use of the electric energy source allocated for production and social-economic development in the province, contributing significantly to the electric energy saving movement.

One of the measures to propagate the economic and effective use of electric energy is advocating the use of Thai Duong Nang solar-energy water heaters. According to the Business Section of Gia Lai Power Company, in 2010, the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) has provided customers a subsidy of 265 million VND for the purchase and use of solar-energy water heaters, corresponding to 265 of water heaters.

To know the benefits of Thai Duong Nang solar-energy water heaters in saving energy, we made a field trip to Chu Se District (a district that had half the number of water heaters on sale in the province) with reporters from the Gia Lai Radio and Television. When asked about the economic benefits in using solar-energy water heaters, Mr. Dong Xuan Lanh - Director of Chu Se-Xuan Lanh Trade Ltd. (manufacturing water pumps for irrigation and hotel service) said excitedly: "In designing the hotel, I also thought of installing electric energy saving equipment. In hotel business, electricity bills account for a rather great proportion of all expenses, for most equipment such as water heaters, air conditioners, television sets… use electric energy. After a survey, I decided to install hot water systems using solar energy with a capacity of 1000 liters in the hotel. Thereby we save around VND6 to 7 million each month."

Then, he said that using solar-energy water heaters was very safe, without fear of electric shock to users. He added that saving electricity not only saved an energy source for the country but also yielded practical benefits for business.

The next place we came to was Mr. Ton That Loi’s home in Su Che Town. Mr. Loi got two buildings, one for living and the other used as a workshop for processing quarry tiles. However, he only paid about VND200,000 or 220,000 for electricity bills each month (it was in the time when the price of electricity had not been increased). Mr. Loi said that he had to pay only little for the electricity bills because he was using solar-energy water heaters effectively, which provided hot water not only for bathing but also for cooking and drinking, thus saving him much of electric energy.

To learn more about the using of solar-energy water heaters under the present promotion program in Chu Se, we came to see a distributor of Thai Duong Nang solar-energy water heaters in Chu Se. Talking to us, Mr. Nguyen Van Sinh said that every month his agency sold about 60-70 Thai Duong Nang solar-energy water heating systems. Because using Thai Duong Nang solar-energy water heaters brings about economic efficiency and saves large amount of expenses on electricity for households, manufacturers and businessmen, customers prefer to buying these products from his agency, considering this to be the first choice to solve the problem of high-rise electricity prices and the increasing demand for electricity. However, according to Mr. Sinh, as the price of a Thai Duong Nang solar-energy water heating system is rather high, many people are hesitating to buy, though they are well-informed of this product.

The benefits of using solar-energy water heaters are obvious and consumers are aware of economic and effective use of electricity. Once households, enterprises, factories, and offices decide to use these products, they are making a practical contribution in joining hands with EVN in eclectic energy saving programs, thus reducing the pressure from overload when demand is rising constantly. 

 By An Nguyen