Cambodia Calling: Protests against electricity price hikes

Monday, December 01, 2008

Protests against electricity price hikes

Yesterday I griped about Cambodia's electricity being the most expensive among ASEAN countries. Electricity costs four times as much in Cambodia compared with Thailand and Vietnam, according to US-based Progressive Policy Institute.

I just read last Thursday's report by The Phnom Penh Post that all 8,000 of the vendors at Orussey market demonstrated against a price increase from 1,200 riels (30 US cents) to 1,500 (37.5 US cents) riels per kilowatt hour (kWh).

"I don't agree with this hike while oil prices are dropping and the prime minister pressured oil companies to decrease their price," said Sok Kun, a shoe vendor. "They even force us to pay 2,500 riels (62.5 US cents) for public lights that they rarely turn on."

In October, the Cambodian government said it would spend more than 300 million USD per year to keep petrol and electricity prices down. Obviously this has not done anything to keep electricity prices down (even though petrol prices have fallen from over 5000 riels a litre to less than 4000 riels).

Only 17 percent Cambodians and 85 percent of Phnom Penh residents are currently supplied with electricity but electricity consumption nationwide has increased 12 percent year on year, while that in Phnom Penh has risen 20 percent annually, said Ith Praing, secretary of state at the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy. ("Bringing electricity, but only at a price", The Phnom Penh Post, 15.8.08)

"The government plans that by 2030 at least 70 percent of all households will have power," Ith Praing added. Deputy general manager of Cambodia’s Industry Ministry Victor Zona said Cambodia is likely to cut electricity costs by 10 percent in Phnom Penh and about 50 percent in provinces after 2012. Let's hope so.

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Some argue that "Shopping is more important than voting", and that the disposition of money is the most basic role we play in any system of economics. Some theorists believe that it is the clearest way that we express our actual moral choices, i.e., if we say we care about something but continue to buy from parties that have a high probability of risk of harm or destruction of that thing, we really don't care about it; we are practicing a form of simple hypocrisy." - Ethical Consumerism, Wikipedia

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11. We believe in love at first sight - at least where our bags are concerned!

12. We believe in life, liberty and the pursuit of handbags!

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At Bloom, our mission is to alleviate poverty and save the environment at the same time, through our recycled bags.

As a social enterprise in Cambodia, we are competing with many NGOs on the one hand (which get donations) and for want of a better word, capitalistic businesses (which drive down costs in an effort to maximise profits). We recognise and accept the challenges that face all business, but are committed to principles of Fair Play, and will NEVER sacrifice those principles in order to be competitive. This means, for instance, we will never sacrifice workers' pay just so our bags will be cheaper. The average pay at Bloom today is 2.13 times the market rate.

So please, before you ask us to discount our bags, remember that we are not a minimum wage factory; we are a social enterprise. If you want a cheap factory-made bag, Bloom is not what you are looking for. If you agree that workers (where-ever they are--Singapore, Germany, France, the US) should always be paid fairly and are not here to produce goods and services at low wages for the profit of big business, then please consider Bloom. Bloom bags are all hand-made by our small team who spend our working hours dreaming up and making bags.

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Bloom is a social enterprise established in Sept 2006 with the intention of providing fair-paying jobs to abandoned, widowed and divorced Cambodian women. Bloom is not a factory. We are a small workshop of nine people who work closely as a team to produce original, quality handmade bags made from recycled rice and fish feed bags.

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All Bloom Bags are handmade by our team. We do not outsource to other sewers because we want to be in control of the supply chain, to ensure that everyone involved in making a Bloom Bag is paid fairly. There is no middleman taking a cut and passing on the work to another.

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