Ho Chi Minh City Electricity admits shortcomings and apologizes for changing electricity meter reading date

On the afternoon of September 7, at a press conference providing periodic information on the socio-economic situation, Mr. Bui Trung Kien, Deputy General Director of Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation (EVNHCMC), apologized to customers for the inconvenience caused by the recent high electricity bills.

" With the spirit of learning and the desire to serve customers better and better, EVNHCMC would like to accept the shortcomings and learn from the experience in the implementation to serve customers better and better. We apologize for this inconvenience," said Mr. Kien.

Mr. Bui Trung Kien, Deputy General Director of Ho Chi Minh City Power Corporation.

Regarding the high electricity bill in August, Mr. Kien said that due to the increase in the number of days of electricity use, the increase in electricity consumption led to an increase in electricity prices according to the norm.

Specifically, in August 2023, electricity companies have implemented the change of electricity recording date to the end of the month for more than 400,000 customers in the old electricity recording sessions recorded from the 3rd to the 20th of each month. Therefore, the days of electricity usage in the August billing period for this group of customers increased from 11 to 28 days.

Meanwhile, electricity bills are calculated by steps, the number of kWh at each step is calculated to increase correspondingly to the number of days of use, so the electricity bill in August will be higher than the previous month.

According to Mr. Kien, up to now, EVNHCMC has completed the transfer of meter reading schedule to the end of each month for nearly 2 million customers. The remaining number will be implemented in the coming time and 100% will be completed in 2024.

In August 2023 alone, depending on the ability to implement the change of electricity recording date to the end of the month for more than 400,000 customers in the old electricity recording sessions recorded from the 3rd to the 20th of each month, so the electricity usage date in the August billing period for these customers increased from 11 to 28 days, corresponding to the invoice issuance and payment schedule also being moved to the beginning of September 2023.

Some customers have wondered why the electricity bill in August increased so much compared to the previous month. The main reason is that the electricity recording date was moved to the end of the month, so the number of days of electricity usage for customers in August increased from 11 to 28 days depending on the old recording session.

" In addition, another objective reason that customers may not have noticed is that the weather in August is hotter, so the demand for electricity also increases compared to July. Customers can easily check their family's daily electricity consumption on the CSKH-EVNHCMC application for more clarity ," Mr. Kien further explained.

Regarding the calculation and application of unit prices, Mr. Kien affirmed that he had complied with the regulations on unit prices and calculation methods according to current regulations in Circular 16/2014/TT-BCT, Circular 09/2023/TT-BCT and Decision 1062/QD-BCT dated May 4, 2023 regulating electricity price tables.

Previously, many consumers in Ho Chi Minh City were upset because the electricity bill in August 2023 increased dramatically compared to previous months, disrupting their life plans, especially in the current difficult economic situation.

Hoang Tho

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