If you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, the frog will struggle and jump out of the pot immediately. But if you put the frog in a pot of cool water, then put it on the stove and cook it slowly, the frog won’t sense the danger until it’s boiled. Boiled frog syndrome is used metaphorically, describing a person’s inability to perceive a threat when it occurs gradually, rather than suddenly.
Currently, Vietnam’s Ministry of Industry and Trade is using the trick of “boiling frogs” to rob people, in the amount of electricity bills. At the Government press conference on the afternoon of August 5, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Do Thang Hai said that “Adjust electricity prices every three months to avoid shocks.”
Do Thang Hai’s word “shock” means, do not increase electricity prices once, because it may cause a backlash among the people, but divide it into several phases, each increasing only a little. Only then will the people not complain.
Remember, at the Vietnam Business Development Forum 2017, held in Hanoi on the morning of June 22, 2017, economist Vu Dinh Anh made a statement that made waves on social networks for a while as he said “Tax collection is like ‘picking duck feathers,’ don’t let ducks squeal.”
Perhaps, Vu Dinh Anh’s ideas 6 years ago and Do Thang Hai’s ideas today are the same. That’s how to apply the boiling frog effect, change it slowly, so that the victim is robbed without screaming. That’s the only way to get money.
EVN is having big problems, which are the ulcers of the regime. They are favored by the Communist state with a mechanism that has both a monopoly on buying electricity and a monopoly on selling electricity. If the electricity seller demands it, EVN will not buy it, to force them to lower the selling price. As for the electricity buyer, if required, EVN will cut off the power to save it. This attitude of EVN has caused a lot of damage to the economy. They like to increase the price of electricity, but the quality of service does not increase. Electricity is still cut off arbitrarily. There is no other country that has an arbitrary power outage like Vietnam.
According to the report, EVN’s accumulated loss is now up to VND100 trillion ($4.2 billion), and of course, EVN’s way to compensate for losses is to increase electricity prices. For the free market, if the price increases, it will lose customers, so, in a competitive economy, raising prices is not an easy thing, there must be a good reason and must be accepted by customers. As for EVN, even if the selling price is increased, its market share is still guaranteed, because customers have no other choice. The increase in electricity prices is certain, but how to increase it so that “frogs” do not struggle, is the strategy that the Ministry of Industry and Trade applies.
The reason for EVN’s loss is not due to business activities but has been calculated in advance. There is a new hole to have an excuse to increase electricity prices. Because, EVN is screaming at a loss, but its subsidiaries have excess money deposited in the bank. Then, obviously, EVN is hiding money, sending it to the bank, then shouting to demand an increase in electricity prices. All are tricks used to pickpocket people.
Currently, EVN is a source of wrongdoing. Duong Quang Thanh, former Chairman of the Group, has just applied for early retirement since May 1. It is worth mentioning that Duong Quang Thanh retired 4 years earlier than the retirement age according to the regime. This makes some analysts suspect that Mr. Duong Quang Thanh fled before the storm hit.
The problem with this regime is that it must eliminate EVN-type monopolies. It should be open to other investors to participate in the electricity supply market. Giving EVN the exclusive right to buy and sell electricity is explained as “energy security.” However, in reality, the monopoly on electricity sales has led to energy insecurity, but not guaranteed, as EVN continuously forces both electricity sellers and buyers, forcing them to accept its rules of the game. If the electricity buyer reacts, the electricity will be cut off. So, how to ensure energy security for the economy?
Thoibao.de (Translated)
