EVN says power prices to be unchanged

The new power tariffs will not raise prices for households while increasing revenue for the sector, an official of the Electricity of Vietnam (EVN) said.

Hoang Van Tuy, Deputy Head of the Finance and Marketing Department under the EVN, told an online discussion on power retail prices held in Hanoi on September 29 that the three ways to calculate power consumption released by the EVN last week were aimed at reducing shortcomings in electricity payment, thus ensuring the rights and benefits to consumers.

"The calculations are being studied which should provide feasible plans while evaluating advantages and disadvantages to choose the best option," he said.

He added that the Minister of Industry and Trade asked the EVN, in co-operation with the Electricity Regulatory Authority of Vietnam (ERAV), to evaluate the tariffs to ensure that poor and low-income households enjoy support from the government.

Tran Dinh Long, Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Electricity Association said the number of tariff levels was not important. However, the ministry should suitably recalculate the difference among the levels.

Long proposed calculations for power consumption to be divided into two levels of less than 100kWh and more than 700kWh.

Nguyen Anh Tuan, ERAV's director said electricity prices have a significant effect on all socio-economic activities as well as people's lives. This was why asking for ideas on the proposed tariffs would make a big difference.

"The new tariffs would ensure that retail electricity prices were higher than production costs while encouraging power saving as well as increasing transparency," Tuan said.

Answering a question related to State-owned groups of the EVN and the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (Petrovietnam) reporting losses due to changes in the exchange rate, he said this was one of the four factors, which included a power mobilisation structure, fuel prices and power purchase spending to adjust power tariffs.

"If all of these factors have changes of more than seven percent, the ministry would review the price adjustment. The time for the review is six months," he said.

The director also affirmed that money spent by the EVN in non-core businesses of tennis courses and swimming pools would not be calculated into the power price.

The group would be organising conferences on power tariffs in three regions this month. The EVN would complete the plan, and submit it to the ERAV and the ministry for consideration before submitting it to the prime minister for approval.-VNA