Stories about the people who built the "path of light" - Part 2: When electricity is on - Life changes

(laichau.gov.vn) Electricity has come to the village, the "path of light" has opened up a better life for the people in the highlands of Lai Chau.

April 22, 2025 became an important milestone for the people of Khau Hom village, Nam So commune when Khau Hom became the last village of Nam So commune to be connected to the national grid. The project was implemented by Lai Chau Electricity Company in coordination with local authorities, starting on December 16, 2024, completing the items on April 13, 2025 with an investment scale including: Upgrading and building a new 35 kV line of about 8.3 km, a 100 kVA transformer station, a 0.4 kV line supplying 60 households in Khau Hom village with a total investment of over 9.5 billion VND.

Provincial and communal leaders and Lai Chau Electricity Company shared joy with the people of Khau Hom village, Nam So commune on the first day of electricity.

Present at the powering ceremony, Vice Chairman of Lai Chau Provincial People's Committee, Comrade Giang A Tinh, spoke highly of the efforts of Lai Chau Electricity Company and local authorities in bringing light to remote areas. The event was truly meaningful not only for the people of Khau Hom village but also marked an important milestone when 100% of the villages of Nam So commune had access to grid electricity, erasing all "blank villages" of electricity in the area. The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee emphasized that with the power supply to Khau Hom, the people in the village will have the conditions and opportunities to develop their socio- economy , contributing to the completion of important targets in the new rural construction program and infrastructure development in the highlands of Lai Chau province.

As for the people of Hang Gang village - a remote village of Phong Tho commune, every time they remember the time when there was no electricity, they still tell each other: "Back then, there was no electricity, at night we just hung around the fire, not daring to go out for fear of wild animals. The whole village only had a few flashlights, and every time they ran out of electricity, they had to bring them down to the commune to charge them. Without electricity, children had to make use of the light from the fire to study. People could only gather when the Cultural Department's art troupe performed for them and had to use generators."

Leaders of Lai Chau Electricity Company inspected the progress of the project to remove the "blank sheet" of electricity in Nam So commune.

In 2021, the Lai Chau Electricity Company's medium and low voltage power line was carried by a team of workers and technicians over mountains and streams to Hang Gang village. Saying goodbye to the endless dark nights, Hang Gang suddenly lit up in the middle of the mountains and forests on the day of power connection. The villagers happily slaughtered pigs, danced and sang all night to celebrate the power connection and kept thanking the "orange soldiers" who, together with the local government, "opened a bright path" so that the lives of the people here could change day by day.

The most obvious evidence since the day electricity was available is the bustling sounds of milling machines and trucks carrying goods from one end of the village to the other. Many households have a well-off life thanks to growing bananas with an income of hundreds of millions of dong each year. It can be said that for the people of Hang Gang village, electricity has brought faith and change for a better life that the Party, the State and the local government have brought to the people.

Not only in Khau Hom, Hang Gang but now, in the highland communes such as Pa Tan, Nam Tam, Mo Si San, the most obvious thing after having electricity is that daily life changes. Households in the villages not only buy many household items, but young people have also taken vocational courses to open phone repair shops, motorbike repair shops, TV repair shops... in the village to serve the people.

Not only that, the care for people's material and spiritual life is getting better day by day, schools have fans and projectors for teaching; medical stations have refrigerators to preserve vaccines to take care of people's health... In Phong Tho commune, with electricity coming to the village, Dao and Ha Nhi ethnic people have quickly opened accommodation services, brocade weaving, and organized art performances to serve tourists. In Than Uyen and Muong Kim communes, thanks to a stable power source, the two-crop rice yield has increased by more than 12%, and the vegetable growing area has expanded 1.5 times compared to before 2020.

Lai Chau Electricity Company staff instruct people to pay electricity bills via phone app .

“From grid light to digital light” – is a joking way of saying that the officers, employees and workers of Lai Chau Power Company strive to emulate. Evidence for this is a series of numbers: 100% of electronic meters have been installed, 98% of remote measurement data is transmitted automatically; 100% of unmanned transformer stations are controlled from Lai Chau Remote Control Center; online electricity services have reached level 4, through which people can register, pay, and reflect by phone without having to go to the headquarters... The team of officers of Lai Chau Power Company is always dynamic, creative, and dedicated to their work, especially in implementing online electricity services, electronic invoices, and cashless payments...

Workers of the Bum To Regional Power Management Team check and connect equipment at the electrical cabinet before energizing the transformer station.

Lai Chau Power Company also invested heavily in rural power grids, electricity serving industrial clusters, urban and border lighting systems. Rural power development has promoted the development of agriculture in communes, the development of eco-tourism, and the improvement of people's lives. During the 2020 - 2025 term, the province's commercial electricity output increased by an average of 6.76% per year, and revenue increased by more than 10% per year. Along with that, social security work has also been focused on by Lai Chau Power Company. During the term, the unit has supported more than 2.8 billion VND for charity activities, building houses of gratitude, lighting up rural roads, giving gifts to poor households, planting trees, donating blood... In remote places such as Si Lo Lau, Tua Sin Chai, Mu Ca, Pa U, the light of the electricity source is a symbol of the companionship of the local government, the Party and the State with the people, thereby contributing to strengthening the trust of the people in the border areas, so that they can be more attached to and firmly protect the Fatherland's borders.

During the 2025 - 2030 term, Lai Chau Power Company continues to set the goal of modernizing the power grid, reducing losses to below 2.8%, completing comprehensive digital transformation, building a strong and clean Party Committee and bringing civilized electricity services to every household... That is just one of many tasks, goals and targets that the Party Committee of Lai Chau Power Company sets out to direct and organize implementation, to together with the Party Committee and the government of Lai Chau province realize the aspiration of "bringing Lai Chau to green, fast and sustainable development".

And here, I would like to borrow the words of Mr. Tran Kim Long - Party Secretary, Director of Lai Chau Electricity Company to end this article: "If before the dream was to have electricity, now our aspiration is to use electricity for development. The National Electricity not only lights up the villages, but is also a bright path to realize the aspiration to develop Lai Chau".

Updated on November 7, 2025

Source: https://laichau.gov.vn/tin-tuc-su-kien/so-nganh-huyen-thanh-pho/chuyen-ve-nhung-nguoi-dung-xay-con-duong-anh-sang-ky-2-khi-dien-sang-cuoc-song-doi-thay.html