Power cuts compound Hanoi’s record heatwave misery in high-rises

On Monday evening she and her family in Tay Ho Ward were midway through dinner when all three towers in their apartment complex, with nearly 1,000 households, were suddenly plunged into darkness due to a power cut. The building management announced that the outage was caused by a fault in the building’s power distribution cabinet and would take hours to repair. What followed was a series of chaotic efforts to escape the heat.

Some people brought battery-powered fans into the hallways, others lay on mats in the ground floor reception area. Some families got into their cars in the basement and turned on the air conditioning while others packed up and moved to hotels. As the electric gate controlling access to the garage had stopped working, preventing vehicles from exiting, they resorted to using ride-hailing services.

Anh, who lives on the 25th floor, initially had access to hallway lighting and elevators powered by a backup generator. But all power was soon cut so that engineers could begin repairs.

Residents at an apartment complex in Tay Ho Ward, Hanoi, brought battery-powered lights and fans to the shared lobby to cool off after a building-wide power outage on the evening of Aug. 4, 2025. Photo by R.S.T.H

She says: "At that point we were stuck. Staying inside was unbearable because of the heat." With no other option, she and her husband carried their baby and some essential items and used phone flashlights to walk down the emergency stairwell. "On the way down we saw many elderly people and young children helping each other through the darkness."

Despite the discomfort, she was moved by neighbors’ optimism. The normally quiet online group chat for the complex’s residents became active with advice and encouragement. Instead of complaints, residents exchanged tips for coping with the heat such as using car air conditioning and heading to the rooftop garden, and shared photos of technicians working to restore power. After nearly three hours power was restored, and families who had evacuated returned home.

In the early hours of Tuesday a luxury apartment complex in Nam Tu Liem Ward, where Bui Phuong and her family live, also experienced an unexpected outage. Although hallway lights and elevators remained operational thanks to generators, a large-scale evacuation took place in the middle of the night. Phuong likens the scene to people flooding the streets before a music concert. Several families called taxis and moved to hotels.

Her household tried to manage with a single rechargeable fan but feared it would not last until morning. Just as they were preparing to leave the power returned at around 4 a.m.But the voltage was very low, and the air conditioners ran without cooling the rooms. "When we woke up everyone’s backs were soaked in sweat," she says.

The ordeal did not end as the building lost power again at noon the same day. She had to send her two children to stay with relatives before going to work. "Living in a high-end apartment but dealing with unreliable power... If it goes out again, we might have to go somewhere else to escape the heat."

A VnExpress survey done on Aug. 4 and 5 found that sudden outages affected a number of apartment buildings and residential areas across Hanoi. Lasting from a few minutes to several hours, they completely disrupted daily routines.

According to the National Power System and Electricity Market Operation Company (NSMO), northern Vietnam is experiencing an extreme heatwave. On Monday, temperatures in Hanoi approached 40°C, with "feels like" temperatures reaching 47°C outdoors.

Electricity usage surged as a result. According to the Hanoi Electricity Corporation, power demand in the capital peaked at 5,992 MW at 1:20 p.m. on Monday, nearly 14% higher than the previous record set in 2024. In the first four days of August electricity consumption rose by more than 25.5 million kilowatt-hours.

The spike placed power lines and substations under huge pressure. A fault in the 220kV Hoa Binh–Ha Dong transmission line on Monday afternoon forced the NSMO to resort to load shedding, cutting electricity in some areas to prevent a system-wide failure.

Associate Professor Ngo Tri Long, former head of the Ministry of Finance’s Institute for Price and Market Research, says blackouts are sometimes unavoidable during heatwaves. "This is a shared difficulty; people should be understanding." He says the public should keep track of power utilities’ notifications and make advance plans, especially families with elderly people or young children.

To stabilize the system and not inconvenience users during the ongoing heatwave, the Hanoi power utility has postponed all planned maintenance-related outages and only carried out emergency repairs in areas at high risk of failure. The NSMO has urged households, businesses and public agencies to conserve electricity, particularly during peak hours. Its recommendations include using energy-efficient appliances, turning off unused devices and avoiding the simultaneous use of multiple high-powered machines.

At an apartment building in Ha Dong Ward, resident Minh Khang says a power outage lasting nearly 24 hours from Monday night forced hundreds of households to evacuate. Rather than complaining, residents responded to the incident by proposing a "shared electricity" solution for future outages. Nearby neighbors would gather in one apartment to use a single air conditioner, helping reduce the risk of overload.

"Finding a safe way to adapt is better than waiting around with no backup plans," he says. "It helps our family and also benefits the whole building."