Electricity bills - payment delays affect business operations
Electricity bills - payment delays affect business operations
State enterprise Electricite du Laos (EDL) is facing a challenge to expand its business as it is having difficulty collecting debts from some of its customers, according to a company official.
EDL's Vientiane Power Distribution Department Director Mr Soukhon Chanthone said yesterday at a press conference that outstanding debt to the company on unpaid electricity bills in Vientiane now stood at 330 billion kip, creating difficulty for them to expand their business in the country.
The latest figure was released by the Vientiane Power Distribution Department as it concluded that over 47 percent of the debt was owed by government organisations.
The failure to pay electricity bills in Vientiane was having a significant negative impact on expansion plans, leaving a shortage of funds for maintenance and creating a lack of revolving capital.
“By August this year the debt in Vientiane had reached 330 billion kip, making it difficult for the company to run the business smoothly,” Mr Soukhon told the Vientiane Times yesterday.
The shortage of funds directly impacts expansion plans. A planned project calling for the installation of electricity supply to 10 villages, had to be reduced to 5 villages instead.
Each month, EDL targets 100 percent collection on electricity bills but, in reality, this is normally only around 95 to 97 percent.
“If we want to have zero debt, collection on electricity bills should be at 100 percent but this is very difficult to achieve,” Mr Soukhon said.
Many consumers have failed to pay their bills, leaving large sums unpaid for a few years, which has created a serious challenge to the efficient running of the business as well.
Nationwide the total amount owed by customers has reached over 400 billion kip, according to accounting records in the first few months of this year.
“Many slow payers, including government organisations, have recently been cautioned and many of them have entered into payment agreements with the company,” Mr Soukhon said.
He added that the agreements were transferred to EDL head office before they were proposed to the Ministry of Finance for further consideration.
At the press conference, EDL's Deputy Managing Director Mr Vongmany Soneketsoulinh said that the government has targeted electricity access coverage by Lao families to reach 90 percent in 2020.
In 2015-16, almost 20 power projects will be completed with an installed capacity of around 4,000 MW and currently a total of 23 projects have been successfully completed with an installed capacity of more than 3,200 MW, according to a senior official at the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
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