Electricity prices to be adjusted once every 3 months: MoIT

Basing on the practical conditions, the Ministry of Industry and Trade (MoIT) and the Ministry of Finance (MoF) will propose the government to adjust electricity prices once per three months, Dang Huy Cuong, head of Electricity Regulatory Department (under MoIT), said at a press conference held on July 9.

“Electricity of Vietnam (EVN)’s power price adjustment is completely in line with the Decision No 24 and Circular No 31 of MoIT on electricity market management. In the future, the electricity prices will be adjusted according to the market mechanism with an adjustment frequency of every three months if conditions allow, including both adjustments up and down” said Cuong.

On July 1, EVN hiked average electricity price by additional 65 dong/kWh (up 5%) from 1,304 dong to 1,369 dong/kWh. EVN said that the input parameters as the basis to increase electricity prices included the increased price of coal for electricity production, the gas price for Ca Mau power plant, oil prices and the foreign exchange rates between dong and US dollar.

With the electricity price hike, EVN’s electricity sales are forecast to increase 3.71 trillion dong. This amount of increase will be used to offset the increased coal price and a part of pending costs of the previous years.

According to the deputy minister of industry and trade, Nguyen Nam Hai, the electricity price increase in the near future will be made step by step by MoIT and EVN but not to change too fast, and it is also likely that electricity prices will be reduced but not necessarily increased once per three months.

 

 

Category: Business