The average electricity retail price was raised from 1,864.44 VND per kWh to 1,920.37 VND (excluding value-added tax), starting from May 4, 2023. This adjustment is equivalent to an increase of 3% compared to the current average retail electricity price.
With the increase in electricity prices, in the context of the current difficult economic situation, the Ministry of Industry and Trade and Vietnam Electricity Corporation (EVN) must make efforts to implement synchronous solutions, to minimise the impact of the electricity price hike, ensure stable, safe and continuous supply of electricity for production and people's daily life, and meet the needs of socio-economic development.
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Engineers of Hanoi - Vietnam Electricity Corporation (EVNHANOI) always closely inspect and supervise substation equipment, ensuring safe, stable and continuous power supply for socio-economic development and the life of the people of Hanoi capital. (Photo: TIEN HIEP) |
Impact at minimum
EVN Deputy General Director Vo Quang Lam affirmed, that during the implementation process, EVN also shared the difficulties of businesses and people, to minimise the impact on production, business and life to a minimum; with the average retail price of electricity increasing by 3%, it will affect the iron and steel production sector to increase by 0.18% in cost; cement 0.45%; this is a low level of impact on the group of production and living customers.
Under the impact of fluctuations in the world and factors of supply and demand in the market, the prices of fuels supplied for power production such as coal, petrol and gas have increased very high compared to before, leading to electricity prices in many countries increasing quite high.
In addition, EVN has implemented five times the support to reduce electricity bills for customers affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, about 15.23 trillion VND.
Electricity prices were kept unchanged for four consecutive years, while the energy crisis was taking place on a global scale, making it inevitable to adjust electricity retail prices.
Previously, the Ministry of Industry and Trade announced the inspection result and EVN’s electricity production and business costs in 2021 and 2022, which found that electricity production and business costs in 2022 were 2,032.26 VND per kWh, an increase of 9.27 per cent against 2021.
On February 3, 2023, the Prime Minister issued Decision No. 02/2023/QD-TTg, on average retail electricity prices, the minimum average retail electricity price shall be increased by 220.03 to 1,826.22 VND per kWh. Meanwhile, the maximum average retail electricity price shall be increased to 2,444.09 VND from 1,906.42 VND per kWh.
Efforts to reduce costs
EVN Deputy General Director Nguyen Xuan Nam said, that with an increase of 3%, it is estimated that EVN's revenue in the remaining 8 months of 2023 will increase by about 8 trillion VND, contributing to minimising financial difficulties for EVN.
According to him, in the proposed scenario, if power tariffs increase by 5% this year, the CPI will see a 0.17% increase. In fact, with this 3% increase, the impact on CPI is not significant.
Increasing electricity prices is just one of the solutions to reduce financial difficulties for EVN.
In the context that fuel price fluctuations in the world are increasing in frequency and amplitude, EVN needs to continue to implement the common orientation of the Party and the Government, which is to save money and implement measures to reduce fuel costs, increase revenue to ensure financial balance in 2023 and preserve and develop state capital.
Over the past years, EVN has also promoted propaganda on power saving and thoroughly implemented solutions to save electricity effectively.
The Government and the Ministry of Industry and Trade also directed EVN to continue researching and considering other solutions to optimize costs and reduce input costs.
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Monitoring substation equipment, ensuring the national power transmission system operates safely, stably and continuously. (Photo: QUANG THANG) |
To ensure a safe and stable electricity supply in 2023, the Ministry of Industry and Trade has directed the implementation of solutions
The Ministry of Industry and Trade also drastically directed the units to ensure a sufficient supply of coal and gas for electricity production; direct the investors of thermal power plants: to regularly review and calculate the demand for using primary fuels for power production, to develop and implement plans to ensure a sufficient and stable supply for the operation of thermal power plants; strengthen the inspection and consolidation of equipment, overcome defects to ensure improved operational reliability and improve power generation capacity of generating sets.
